“Oh, I’m bein’ followed by a moon shadow,
moon shadow, moon shadow . . .
Leapin and hoppin’ on a moon shadow,
moon shadow, moon shadow . . .”
~ Cat Stevens (AKA: Yusef Islam)
Those of you who have followed my weekly writings may recognize this photo from Summer 2016 when I was able to capture a full moon AND lightning with my cell phone camera. I was in heaven, and OH SO EXCITED to capture this shot!
I’ve always been fascinated by the sky . . . especially the night sky . . . since I was a toddler. It probably helped having an uncle who was a rocket scientist for NASA.
I remember sitting outside at my Grandmother’s house (lakeside – no street lights!) with my uncle Joe, listening to him point out the constellations and the phases of the moon in the pitch-black night sky. Somehow the joy and excitement in his voice still rings in my memory, as I continue to find myself looking for the next full moon each month!
He was the first to point out to me the changes of the moon, and I remember running outside at night to check to see how it had changed since the last evening. If the weather was cold, I’d run from window-to-window seeing if I could find the moon.
Fast forward several decades, and I am still fascinated by the moon. Living in an area where we got to experience the TOTAL ECLIPSE of 2017 this past Monday was quite exciting, to say the very least.
I intentionally took time out of my schedule to have lunch with my daughter and 3-year-old grandson to celebrate the eclipse. In spite of the intense heat and humidity (it IS St. Louis, after all), it was definitely an experience of a lifetime. Sharing it with loved ones made it even more special.
Teaching the newest generation in the family to “trace over all the crescent moons with your sidewalk chalk” . . . instilling the same awe and admiration for our planet, our constellations and the amazing, unbelievable once-on-a-lifetime experience of a total eclipse . . . PRICELESS.