The Moon Is Bright

I'm waiting for the lunar eclipse, which is supposed to start in a little more than an hour. Though I'm perfectly capable of staying up I may not, partly because I'm working on becoming an old man before my time and partly because the moon is so freakin' bright tonight I'm not sure I want to spoil it.
   The Winter Solstice, a full moon, and a lunar eclipse don't all happen on the same night very often and tonight's the night they're all crammed together like the Super Bowl, World Series and... uh... whatever hockey has all in the same day. It's a special time, cosmologially speaking, is what I'm trying to say, and the universe is delivering the goods. I was just outside with a newspaper and I could read all but the smallest type pretty easily.
   Comets are supposed to portend big changes, perhaps apocalyptic changes, and comets come by way more often than lunar eclipses on the Winter Solstice, which have happened together twice before in the past 2,000 years, most recently 372 years ago. I'm not particularly alarmist, but I am guessing this celesital happening is foreshadowing some big changes. Or hoping it does anyway.
   So keep your fingers and toes crossed the changes are good ones. Or that the clouds stay away until I get to see the eclipse, at the very least.

Happy Birthday, Moon... uh, Mom

Today is a great day. It's the 40th anniversary of the day the United States landed two men on the Moon. It also happens to be my mother's birthday. I'd like to say that I remember the moon landing because of my mother's birthday, but it's actually the other way around. I remember that July 20th is when we landed on the Moon, and only then that it's also my mother's birthday. I've explained this to her, and like all Great Moms she understands.
   I do remember watching the moon landing. I was two years old, and my parents woke me up from a nice nap to come out to the living room to see the great event. I was tired and cranky, and I didn't understand when they told me what was on TV was very important, and that I would remember it forever. I just wanted to go back to sleep. But when I saw the grainy black and white images of men in bulky suits walking on the moon, I was hooked. I got it, I understood, even at two years old. That's how big a deal the moon landing was, and how big a deal it still is.
   You were right, Mom, I do still remember it. Happy Birthday.