Moon Child

Remember that song from American Tail?

"Somewhere out there

Beneath a pale moon light

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight.

Somewhere out there

Someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another

In that big out there somewhere"

On Thursday night when I left work the moon was shining high above, full of light, looking down on me. She was beautiful, sitting up there all aglow. Lightning the world and its creatures below.

I've always liked the moonlight. If I believed in the horoscopes I would say it's because I was born in the month of July which makes me a Moon Child, but that's not the reason.

Moonlight, at least the full moonlight makes everything so beautiful and open. No one or no thing can hide when the moon's full. Everything that could be hidden is now in the open. What could be safe from predators is now at risk during full moons.

I've been lucky to see some of the most beautiful sights during a full moon. I remember my father taking us all up to the Grand Canyon and camping out. We kids had run all day fishing, climbing mountains, exploring, collecting pine cones. As darkness fell Daddy took us up to look out over the Canyon. The moon shined out and illuminated the mountains and I thought surely this was what God intended all of the earth to look like! As we made our way back to the campsite I had to use the restroom only the restroom was an outhouse about half a block away. In the dark. Daddy made all of us go together to make sure everyone had emptied everything and I was glad again for the full moon because she allowed us to see the trail, and our campsite.

The other scene seen with a full moon was another camping expedition, again with my family to White Horse Lake. My father liked being an outdoorsman, too bad he was afraid of every little insect, slithering thing and creepy crawly:-) Anyway, Daddy took us up there and rented a cabin right on the water. I remember sitting on the porch of the cabin eating watermelon and drinking Grape pop. With the help of the moon, we could see for miles and miles. Daddy tried to scare us with ghost stories but he was a lousy storyteller so we were never that scared. Thank God the cabin had indoor plumbing.

Phoenix is very flat with a smattering of hills right in the middle of the city. The hills divide the city but if you get to a high enough elevation you can look out over the whole city. We used to do this on full moon nights. We'd drive up to South Mountain lookout point and just marvel in the place we call home.

So, back to the song. It's a good thing to know that the full moon I'm watching tonight is the same moon that's shining brightly in Vegas, Atlanta, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Pennsylvania, Florida, Italy, Virginia, Boise, India, the Philipines, New York, Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles.

I'm thinking of you.