This morning I chased the moon and caught it. Like many people around the world, I figured out what time the total lunar eclipse was going to hit our part of the country. I had heard somewhere that it would occur at 6:25 a.m. out here in the East. It’s a good thing I “happened” to turn on my radio at 6 a.m.–which I hardly ever do–because the broadcaster said, “The total lunar eclipse is happening right now!” I jumped up from bed, where I was sitting sipping coffee and writing in my journal as usual at 6:00 a.m., threw on some clothes and jumped into my car to drive to find a good vantage point away from the trees. Because the eclipse was happening essentially at moonset I was hoping to catch it before it set, dipping beneath the horizon. I didn’t have to drive far. No more than two blocks from my house, I pulled over, having spotted her in a clear spot, hanging above the treeline.
The last sliver of white of the moon was still present when I arrived, and as I watched it got smaller and smaller as the earth moved into place. After a bit, I was joined by a man and his young daughter. I could hear them talking as they approached my vantage point. He was explaining to her what was happening as she looked up with interest at what was happening. He turned to me and remarked, “Isn’t it amazing to think about–our ancestors probably stood like we’re standing watching this same phenomenon. I wonder if they were afraid.” I smiled at him. “I think they were probably in awe as we are,” I remarked. I had to smile because I had written about that in earlier blogs as I sat staring up at a brilliant full moon. Yet another family also came down to view the moon. By this time it was nearly 6:30 and we now had a community gathering down on the corner, all of us gazing at the moon.
Blood Red Moon Lunar Eclipse Near Totality
I am grateful this evening for still having a sense of wonder and excitement about something as random as a lunar eclipse. I’m grateful because I still find such things awe inspiring, worthy of song and verse. There is such beauty in the world around us that I could stand and do a 360 from just about anywhere outside and find something beautiful within a very short radius from where I was standing.
“Open your eyes and see things, open your ears and listen, cause if you go through life with your eyes half closed you won’t know what you’re missing,” I wrote in a song a very long time ago. When you have an occasion and opportunity to capture a memory, a piece of history, whatever it is, you have to go for it, even if it means jumping into your buggy to go chase the moon.
