Luna

The moon was really special to me when I was young. It was a wondrous orb that really got my attention. I recall hearing the song, “Fly Me to the Moon” and years later, “Moon River.”

I remember at the age of four I was sitting outside on the porch swing with my father on a muggy New Jersey summer evening. A full Moon was rising in the East, the direction our porch faced. I remember the sound of crickets.

We discussed the moon and he told me that one day we would be able to go to the moon. I assumed he was meaning that he and I would go there one day, but I guess he had been talking about humankind going there.

Somehow that night and that conversation instilled an idea in me that there were crickets on the moon. After all one normally only notices the Moon at night, and that’s when you hear crickets, so it stood to reason to me that there should be crickets on the moon. That idea didn’t stay with me long because when I saw the Moon in October, no crickets could be heard.

Have you even noticed that no matter how cloudy and rainy it is you will always see the full Moon every month? You will generally see the first crescent moon as well, and those nights will be the coldest of the month.

It is dark when I go out to care for the animals in the morning. Sometimes I visit with the horses in the dark before I turn on the lights to collect their manure and feed them. Two weeks ago the moon was full and I visited my black gelding. As I combed my fingers through his mane I saw the reflection of the full moon in his calm right eye. It was a beautiful moment broken by the mare in the next stall that was becoming vocal because her breakfast wasn’t coming to her as quickly as she wanted.

I turned on the lights and commenced with my morning ritual. When I was finished I could hear the mare munching away, but my gelding was still there looking out. I turned the lights off and joined him for a few more minutes.