This past winter there was a full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice December 21, 2011). After watching the majority of it, I came inside and wrote the following, all the while thinking of my cousin that I had lost. Her and I spent uncountable summer nights of our childhoods at our grandparents’ farm lying on the cool grass, watching the endless sky.
“As I lay in the yard earlier tonight, on the longest and darkest night of the year, I watched the constellations regain their rightful brightness in the sky as the moon slipped slowly into the shadow of my home. Silently, the darkness came and I was aware that the last time these two events came together, a full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice, Galileo watched them just as I do now. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but a twice-in-a-millennium rarity.
With my back to the ground, a dog across my lap, and a cigar in my lips, I watched my breath and smoke rise and the universe perform. I watched the moon tread darkness. I thought of us, and how beautiful the world was when we were young.
And, I cried.
I cried for the beauty, for all that ever was, and for all that could have been.
But most of all, I thought of you, and hoped you were somewhere watching it all, and thinking of me.
