Mr. Moon

If you known me for any length of time, you know I don't simply refer to the moon that rotates around our planet as the "moon." No, it's Mr. Moon. There were days at least 2 or 3 years ago where on this blog, I wrote about running with Mr. Moon in the early morning hours quite often. Today, I don't write about it as often, except for the occasional mention here and there. In my home, though, it's still Mr. Moon. Last night on the way home from music lessons, Mr. Moon was in the sky and wow, was he beautiful!

I love my iPhone, but it really can't take a photo in the dark of Mr. Moon. As we were within a few miles of home and about to cross over the interstate, my wife said "You're going to stop and take a photo, aren't you?" Why yes I am! Window down but I couldn't get it to focus and capture what I was seeing. "Why can't I get what's THERE onto HERE!" argh... It had just risen and was mighty big. It had a slight orange hue and was briskly passing by scattered clouds in the sky. Moment by moment, it illuminated the landscape beneath then hid behind clouds while illuminating those clouds from behind. Regardless, it was present...powerful...beautiful. Seriously...I could pull out the lawn chair and just watch it all night long, no joke. Here's a photo I grabbed off of Google this morning...it's pretty close to what I saw last night.

Source: kovalvs.deviantart.com

There is just something very deep about the moon. Our smallness, our insignificance on this planet...it's amplified when we think about the mightiness of what we see. We're nothing more than a spec on this planet in comparison and then the moon itself, it's nothing more than a spec when compared to other planets in the solar system. Often has there been a morning where I left the house on a run and verbally said "Good morning, Mr. Moon!" and he lit the entire way from my home and back again. I do love to run with him. Parallels abound, too, with him. Faith, endurance, never-failing, beauty, forever-present...lots of parallels.

One other thing exists today when I look at Mr. Moon and it applies to my wife, too. It takes me back nearly instantly to a few years ago. It goes deep so I'll only skim across the top of it today. Back when I was in Afghanistan, on the other side of the planet, I went on runs with Mr. Moon. I remember so perfectly times where I'd stare at the sky seemingly forever and imagined being at home. It was easy. I saw nothing else but him so I could've easily been at home, on a run around town, or on the trails in the early morning or late at night during a 100-miler. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I escaped through my mind and went home. Not only that, but the moon was our constant..."our" meaning my family/wife and me. We could share something...at the same moment. Our eyes could virtually meet in outer space. This has carried on since that deployment to times I must be away. Whether only a few hours or a few states away, if Mr. Moon is there, we can both "connect," if only for a moment.

So yea, it's just the moon. But to me...to us...it represents much more and different things on different days but all significant in their own ways. "Beautiful and awe-inspiring...Mr. Moon, you are those and so much more. These words today are only a peek into what I "feel" when you shine. See you soon."