My biggest window faces west. When I got up this morning and opened my blinds, I did not expect to see the moon on the skyline. It hung in a cage of bare tree branches, with a curtain of dusty blue sky behind. (Something from a werewolf movie?) I think my exact words came out like this: "Wow!" I'm pretty articulate.
My plan was to get dressed and then go outside to have a better look. I thought about taking a picture before all that, but I think my exact thoughts were, "Come on, it's not going to just disappear."
It just disappeared.
I turned around and the moon was already half gone. It seems so big and permanent and stable, but then it slips under the horizon like a broken egg yolk.
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| My delirious attempt at a photo before the moon disappeared. |
I saw the moon set, leaving behind a tie-dye blue sky. And I got to thinking (uh-oh). We always talk about the setting sun and the rising sun. They get thousands of photo shoots for calendars and postcards. They even get their own words: sunset and sunrise.
Well, believe it or not, moonrise and moonset are real words too. But I've never heard anyone use them. The sun gets all the glory. The moon does her work quietly at night--turning people into wolves and such--and then sets with very few to see.*
Now, here comes the clincher. Most writers will never be suns. Never. I'm not a sun. The likelihood of me ever becoming one of those stars in the center of the solar system is very low. It's fun (and even motivating) to think that I might be able to work my way up in the sky or miraculously become an instant sun. But there's no way to know. Maybe we should just do the best we can, without the hopeful anticipation of becoming a sun. It distracts from the now.**
If you are a sun, congratulations! I applaud you! You will probably never see this blog in your life! If you are a moon, remember that you are extremely beautiful too. And at least people can actually look at you without going blind.
*OK, so maybe it's different if you live near the Arctic Circle or something. Maybe you see this all the time and are like, "We'd like some sun here!" I don't know, but I'm talking about the USA moon.
**Sometimes daydreaming is good, as long as it doesn't make you discontented.
