Super Moon

There are those that believe and data on both sides of the arm chair theory, that a women’s menstrual cycle is connected to the moon.  Indeed there is a fine line between synchronicity and superstition and I am comfortable enough in my crone age to forgo the need to know.  But whether it is rumor or reason I have always been drawn to notice the moon.  So when I overheard my son talking about the “super moon sighting” I knew that I would be one of the zealots who would set their cell phone alarm and stumble out into the wet grass before the break of dawn to stand in witness of the perigee-syzygy.

My boyfriend and I are up at all odd times of the night for various and sundry reasons, and we always enjoy being in the backyard when the moonshadows light up the tree limbs.  The dew on the grass sparkles when the moon is full, and the sound of the crickets and tree frogs echoes in the mist.

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was to go off.  For a lady who hasn’t worn a watch since 1995, my internal clock is always spot on.  It was one hour before the moon was said to set, and I gently whispered in my boyfriends ear that it was time.  He mumbled a bit, reached out to grab a hold of me HARD, which is his instinct to do so, and slowly he woke up enough to walk with me downstairs and out into the night air.

The moon was beginning its quick descent over the top of the pepper trees that line the quarry out behind the house.  The whole back yard was bright with beams of moonlight helping me to easily see the buttons and dials on my digital camera.  I took dozens of shots from all sorts of fancy aperature settings as I watched the moon sink closer to the trees.  My boyfriend pointed out the clouds that were coming in fast, which surprised me because I would have sworn his eyes were closed, as he swayed gently back and forth behind me trying not to fall back asleep.

The clouds soon obstructed the view of the setting moon, and just as the darkness of the night began to sink back in the coyotes in the rock quarry all howled in unison.  Their canine chorus instantly silenced the cricket crooners and love lorn toads.  And as I looked up from the view port of my camera, I could see that the moon was now nowhere to be seen in the night sky.  It was still a half hour before it would officially set, yet the cloud cover trumped even the super moon this auspicious morning.

I smiled and bowed to the moonless sky, grateful to have had the opportunity to see its glory, then I opened the screen door and sat beside my boyfriend who had fallen back asleep on the couch.  He reached out to grab a hold of my arm hard, then we slowly made our way back upstairs and once again said our “love you, goodnight”‘s.

Simple, sleepy, super moon.  Smiles.