Once Upon a Blue Moon

Last night's blue moon is starting to wane.

 Let me back up a bit.

The first full moon of August appeared the night of August second. As with all full moons, this first full moon of August stopped me in my nighttime tracks from car door to house door. The illuminated sky struck me so full of awe, I decided not to go inside just yet. I did unlock the door and let my dog out. I couldn’t be moon gazing outside with Wnnie door-scratching inside, sensing  that I was so near yet so far. The pooch, who is close to blind, slowly descended the back porch steps. She needed no more brightness than the light of August’s first’s full moon.The light in which we both became moonshadows. 

So much had happened during the 28-day lunar cycle that produced this early August full moon. My daughter gave birth to my first grandchild, a boy. And in that time from the early-summer full moon to August’s first full moon, my grandson had travelled from womb to hospital ward to home. On one of the eight days before the first moon of August reached fullness, the baby’s eyes remained open a bit longer than they had remained shut during his wakefulness. By the time this first full moon of August glowed overhead, my grandson had begun to distinguish the constant shapes in his bright world as those of his parents’ faces gazing back at him; the sounds  - their voices .

August’s second full moon appeared last night, August 31. Two full moons in one month is considered a rare occurrence that usually happens just once every two or three years. The second moon in the month is called a blue moon; thus, the expression once in a blue moon , which means once in a great while. The adjective has nothing to do with color, though photographers often tint the prints of this lunar phenomena.

There hasn’t been a blue moon since Emily was first engaged, over two years ago. Now, the next blue moon comes along - and she’s a mom. My son lived nearby and had just entered graduate school around the time of that last blue moon. Now he’s living in the Boston area and working full-time in the oldest and largest private bank in the country. In the time between the blue moon of 2010 and last night’s blue moon, there occurred three moves to different apartments for him and three moves for Em and her husband. .

Journalists have also noted that, in this year’s blue moon cycle, Neil Armstrong died, 43 years after he became the first person to walk on the moon. Seems fitting.

Now, the blue moon of 2012 - which looks so near yet so far -  is waning.

I wonder what will come to pass before the next blue moon appears in 2015?
 
 

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