The Moon and Stars

***** MAJOR WARNING ****

O.k. so here is the deal. I was given the Moon and the Stars when I was 4 years old. You all get to look at them and yes, I will even allow SOME to walk on the moon. However, they are mine understand? My Great Grandmother Elizabeth (Grandma Lizzie) gave them to me. She told me that they were hers and hers alone to give to me. Now, a great grandmother DOES NOT LIE!!! And if any of you tell me otherwise, well that is just sacrilegious.

Dad and I had gone over to their house and had stayed late. It was usual for us to go there almost on a daily basis. See, I was Grandma Lizzie’s birthday present. Yeah, I was born the day before her birthday so hence, claimed that I was given to her. There where many little perks to this distinction and I do not have a problem with that. For example, there was always a candy bar on the table or a Popsicle in the freezer. Nope, not a problem at all.

For the first 6 to almost 7 years of my life we would go to their house (3 whole blocks away) and visit with her and my Great Grandfather Emanuel (Grandpa Manuel). We did that until Grandpa Manuel passed away when I was around eight

Well, we had stayed late, the outside light burned out just as we were getting ready to leave and let’s face it, it was fricken dark outside. Too dark for this little boy to go outside. Grandma took pity on her grandson, picked me up, and started to comfort me. She started talking as she started to walk to the car. As we stepped outside, she stopped and let dad go ahead. That is when she had me look at the sky.

Tonight there was a full moon or dang close to it. I remember her pointing out the shape of a face on the moon to me. Pointing to the different stars and telling me to look over there and there. That is when she told me – that is when she gave me the Moon and the Stars. That She and They were there to light up the night for me.

That is when she told me wondrous things. I do not know how long that magical moment lasted, but I know it was over way too soon. I sorely wish I remembered everything she said. And the way she said it. But I did walk away with the knowledge that it was a magical time and she believed in the Fairy kingdom. Believed and respected. We walked the pathway from hundreds of year’s gone bye. She told me things that night, that were told to her when she was young. Things that have been handed down from generation to generation. I know that, I feel that, and I believe that.

She talked about Grandpa’s flowers and how there were things there to watch the flowers and plants. How these things came to be there she did not state. But they were and I did not have to do a thing. They were there no matter what. Whether I looked for them or not (but if I did I would not find them) it did not matter. They were there just because. Because we were who we were, they are there to watch and protect us too. That no matter what, because of them, there was nothing outside for us to ever be afraid of. That no matter where I went, I could find them in the flowers, plants, or trees around me.

As we walked towards the car, Grandpa Manuel followed. When we reached the front of the house, Grandpa told me about the buckeye tree. How it grew in the front of the house and protected the entranceway. He bent down and picked up one of the buckeyes that had fallen. He handed it to me and told me to keep this in my pocket. Never put it in my mouth, but to always keep it in my pocket.

I cannot express in dismal words and sentences everything I felt that night. How can I share with you what was said, what was heard, what was seen, or what was felt. Because that is really where the magic was. It was a feeling I felt. Total love and commitment from my grandmother emanating from her to that world. I felt it from her through her gestures, words, and in the way she held me close. I felt the magic leave her body and go through mine out into that realm. Part of her and part of me traveled that night, together, to that world. We only stayed a short time, a fleeting second, but that was enough. I have been touched (and I am pretty sure I will not hear any arguments there either).

I learned in those few moments. What it fully means to behold the world around us. I strive to gain that goal. For you see, like many before and after, we forget. We forget what we are. The mundane life enters our world and then we have to “grow-up.” It has a tendency to knock on the door quite often. Bills in the mail, tank of gas, groceries. Yeah those little perks all interrupt. However, we can push the boundaries a little bit and keep them at bay.

That realm is there, all we have to do is allow it to enter our lives. FULLY enter our lives. Open your eyes, your ears, and your heart and see what surrounds us. Even amongst all the implements of a normal, mundane contempory 21st century person, they are here. That flowerbed you walked by, the trees in the backyard, the front lawn, they are there. What about the flowerpot in the front room window? Do you see them? Can you feel them?

So, I simply don’t care what you say. The Moon and the Stars are mine. Try to tell me otherwise.