I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me

Tonight I looked out the window and saw the crescent moon peeking out from behind the trees.  Seeing it made me feel like a little girl. There's something so innocent and sweet about the moon- it's up there, every night, most nights shining down that cool, pale, magical light. It's not screaming for attention, like the sun- it's not trying to keep us alive or anything.  It's just quietly keeping us company, making nights romantic and beautiful and serene.  It It evokes nighttime childhood memories- playing flashlight tag, going with my parents to the beach at night, watching the long moon beam shimmer across the ocean, looking up at it through the window of our station wagon, following us on a night ride home.

I love introducing babies to the moon- the two seem to go together perfectly.  This summer on Cape Cod, I took my little one-year-old grandson outside each night of our vacation and showed him the moon.  It was big and full and he stared up at it in awe.  By about the third night he said "Moon!"  (Actually, it came out more like "Moo" but I was still thrilled.) Those were perfect moments- he  won't remember them, but I always will. 

In one of my favorite children's books, Harold and the Purple Crayon by the great Crocket Johnson, Harold is tired and wants to go to bed, but he can't find his house.  Then he remembers that the moon is always in his bedroom window. So he draws window with the moon outside of it,  and suddenly he is in his own bed. He draws up his sheets (literally) and falls asleep, with his moon shining in.  

When I was 9 years old the first men landed on the moon.  It was amazing and strange to watch on tv,  and a little bit anti-climactic from a child's perspective. I don't know what I expected- moon men? Maybe I wanted it to be more beautiful, not just rocky and dusty and beige.  What was beautiful were the shots of the earth from the moon, looking like a marbleized orb sparkling in the inky depths of the sky.  I remember thinking the moon was lucky to be able to look at us every night- we were much fancier than it was.