Nov 8, 2022
Blood Moons, Eclipses, Sunrises & Winds of Change
Feeling Infinite
The last blood moon until 2025 occurred this morning. It was also a lunar eclipse, occurring between 5 and 6 a.m. here in Virginia Beach. I hadn’t set an alarm, but the deck chairs blowing around on our balcony awoke me at 3:30. By the time I moved the chairs inside so they didn’t blow away, I was wide awake enough to know I wouldn’t be falling back out anytime soon.
So, I got up, read a bit, played a game of strat-o-matic baseball, just killing time until 5:00. Then I started sky-gazing. Out on the windy balcony, facing the ocean, the moon was not visible. The wind was still strong, the waves were wild, but no moon to see. I realized it would be hanging over on the other side of the hotel, the land side. So, I headed over to that side of the world, and met the blood moon, just hanging up there like a messenger from above. “Hello, Blood Moon!”
It was really quite compelling. Looking up at it, I was reminded of a line from a favorite movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. “I feel…infinite”. I did. These moments when something takes me out of my current story, the drama of my life, and fills me with a sense of awe, of being a part of something so much larger than my little life, something…infinite. I love those moments when they happen. They remind me who I really am.
I got some shots of it, at various points of it’s transition, and then it was gone, just another moon in a morning lightening sky. But I had captured it on digital film. More importantly, it had captured me — in my heart. A moment I won’t forget. An eternal moment in my memory’s banks.
Coming back into our room, I sat down pondering what I’d just witnessed, when I realized, “Hey, the sun’ll be coming up soon!”, and went back onto my balcony to catch some of that action. It was brilliant. Infinite. Reassuring. The sun always, also rises. Life goes on. We get to do it all over again, today — always today.
If we’re awake, we get to witness its brilliance, it’s infiniteness. Even if we’re asleep, we get to be a part of the greater story, which is so much more than our own little life story. Yet, our little life story is ours — it’s not nothing. In fact, it’s nearly everything. The more we engage with our lives, with our world, the more we are alive. The more awake we are, the more we get to see. But, there’s a lot to be said for sleeping, as well. Much to be said for dreaming. I love to dream. I love to live. It’s all a part of it.
We’d had a couple days of summer-like weather here, me walking around in a t-shirt and shorts, enjoying a gentle breeze carrying the sweet salt-sea air with it’s instant, blood-pressure lowering sense of peace and relaxation. The early morning winds and the blood moon changed all of that. Today, it feels like the late fall that it is. We prayed that these winds of change would signify a change for the better in the crazy world that election day might bring with it. Just praying that those changes are good ones.
Got a call this afternoon from a dear old friend who happened to be driving through Fredericksburg with his lovely wife and wondered if we’d be around to stop for a cup o’ coffee. “Ah, we’re down in Virginia Beach right now!” They had just been here last weekend, visiting her brother. I was sorry we missed them this time, but gladdened they thought to give us a call for a visit. Old friends become more and more precious to me as I grow older. The ones that still hold a special place in my heart, especially. I’m sure we’ll catch up another time.
One more day down here, then we’ll head back up to our regularly scheduled lives. I love these little get-aways we get to take to the beach every few months or so. They help me to feel …. infinite.
