JeanPaul wouldn’t have done it a few years ago – before Italy, before Egypt.  Although it wasn’t without a little grumble, he threw on his winter coat and came for a walk with me.  I was in search of last night’s moon.  The big, bright moon that won’t be as big and as bright for another 18 years.  The clouds hid this moon as he rose above the horizon.  I could see his light peaking over the clouds but he seemed too shy to show himself.

Not like harvest moons.  I remember each time I saw one of those huge, orange moons taking over the autumn sky.  Once as a teenager on a cool fall night at O’Donnell Park.  Once as a young adult driving through Lowell’s necropolis on my way home from work.   I saw one while I drove down my street in Baltimore and another just this past fall in Manchester.  They were magical moons that followed me as I grew up and as I grew away.  I knew no matter where I was in the world, that moon would find me.  I look for him every year and count it a lucky year when he shows up.

We’ll drive to the golf course, see if we can see it from there.  A few people had the same idea, cameras in hand awaiting his arrival.  I had my camera but I knew any photo I took couldn’t capture the experience.  It’s more than the sight – it’s the smell of the place and the taste of the waiting.  After a little while, I could see him rising above the clouds.  Amazingly fast it seemed.  He surprised me – he was bright white, not wearing any of the warmth I thought I would see.  Magnificent he was, but magical?  No, just beautiful.

I chased the moon last night, like I sometimes chase things in life.  Searching for the sublime.  I usually find the beauty but the warmth can be allusive.  Like a gorgeous painting of a beautiful woman.  You can appreciate the beauty but you can’t completely ignore the coldness of her smile, the feeling you’re being laughed at a bit.

I would rather have had the warm familiar glow of a harvest moon instead of the bright cold white of last night’s moon.   I wonder, which moon do you prefer?