I LOVE THE MOON

My zodiac thing says I am a Moon Child. I have no doubt about that;  I have always had a fascination with the moon and always made a big deal about it all my life. My kids can confirm that.

When I was a child, I loved to look at the night sky and watch the show. When my Dad took the family out at night in the car, I loved how the moon would follow us home, as I lay nestled next to my mother. I was thrilled when the bright moon would shine in my bedroom window. Even today, I check out the moon almost every night, and love when it streams in the window.

I  had said, 'I hope I live long enough to see men walk on the moon'.  As it turned out, my first child, Catherine, was born on July 18, l969 and I watched the moon landing on TV  in the hospital,  nestling my newborn in my arms.

The night sky is endlessly beautiful.. I recall the great intimacy I felt with the moon and starry sky after watching the movie, Cinema Paradiso, and going outside into the summer night and laying on my back and looking straight up. I could have died in peace at that moment, it was so beautiful and I was one with the Universe, to use that old cliche.

When I was still little, I dreamed of having a telescope so I could look at the moon and the stars. My Dad was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, "3 meals a day and a roof over your head - what are you complaining about?" No chance!

So, a few summers ago, when visiting my cousin Sheilane, she mentioned that her next-door-neighbour had a giant telescope in his  back yard, and we could check out the moon and stars that night. I was in hog heaven and just wanted night to come.

The night was clear, and the neighbour, John, showed me how to look into a smallish lens on a pole-like thing. Behind me was a small shed housing all the "working parts". I could not believe what I saw, and that I could check out different sections of the moon. close-up.  He also pointed out  several star clusters. It was so magical.

The next day, I found out he printed pictures of the night skies and went to see his photos. I was so enraptured. He gave me about 15 different photos of the moon (a couple chillingly gorgeous), and a collage of different clusters., plus one of the pink Planet

I had these pictures for about 5 years and would take them out and look at them several times a year and just about weep in amazement.  I decided I would give them to my grandson Alex who was 6 yrs old and he could probably take them to school for show and tell, or frame one of the moon for his room. (these were my ideas, not his, or his mother's)

When I visited last time, I did not see them where I left them in a big brown envelope. I did not ask, (I have a habit of not asking). Last night looking at the moon, I thought about the pictures of the moon that I so adored, and wondered......if they had been disposed of....and then I wondered, and then I decided not to wonder, and  just enjoy the real moon, right now.