The mind’s eye.

Moonlighting, a blog by Judy Cools

My Moonlighting Blog takes on a literal bent today, as we recall those rare events that we recognize immediately will only live on in our memories.  Even if we had a camera, it still wouldn’t capture the moment the way we were living it.  The camera of the mind has to click in.

Last week’s “Blood Moon” was one of those events for me.  Now, I’ve seen plenty of eclipses in my lifetime.  From solar eclipses in the driveway of my family home, watching the shadows through homemade box cameras, to lunar eclipses in every place I’ve lived.  My older brother was a big fan of sky events.  I may have caught my interest from him, or maybe I sustain my interest in memory of him.

In any case, we headed out Wednesday morning to glimpse the total lunar eclipse, which this time was considerate enough not to occur during the middle of the night.  Instead, totality was at a little after 7:00 a.m. and worked conveniently into the morning routine.

The placement of the moon at this time of year is such that we can’t see it well from our woods, so we headed down the road to Lake Michigan.  As I said, I’ve seen lots of eclipses and I’ve even seen the blood moon before, so while I didn’t want to miss it I’ll also admit I was just a little “ho-hum” about the event.

Ho-hum until we got there, that is.  The moon was as expected: Large and full, almost completely dark with the shadow of earth upon it.  Its color was somewhere between brown and red and it was immediately obvious how ancient civilizations could take this as a sign of major import in the spiritual world.

What I didn’t count on was the Lake.  Beneath this dramatic, eclipsed moon was line after line of tall and rolling whitecapped waves.  The moon hung almost unchanging in the early morning sky, while the ranks of waves kept marching into shore.  The wind was high, and the waves enthusiastic.  The waves alone would have been worth getting up early to see.  Together with a blood moon at dawn, it’s a blessing that can only live in the memory of mind and heart.

Kudos, complaints, or conversation? Moonlighting19@yahoo.com

© 2014, J. L. Cools