Please, don't moon me!
Most of my posts are silly because that's who I am. However, like all of us, I do have a serious side. I just let mine out occasionally (hold on, she's trying to get out. Get...back...in...there... Sorry, didn't work. She's insisting on typing a bit in this post. *Sigh*). Like just now, I didn't know she was going to come out the other night as I read a book to Charlie Pride. I just have to digress from my normal rantings on topics like belly button lint to share this book with you today. I share it because I think you will like it and perhaps be moved by it as I was... Tomorrow I will get back to talking about something like the pots & pans cleaner "Bar Keepers Friend" needing a Certs or something (and it does- whoooooweeeee!!), but today, I want to talk about the moon.
If a white van on it's way to the Kennedy Space Center would've stopped by my house a month or so ago & asked, "Hey, do you want to go to the moon?" I would've asked him to let me get the wet clothes into the dryer and then wait a second more for me to pack my bags. Well, I may have given it a little more thought than that. I am sure I would've asked to unload the dishwasher...and kiss my kids and husband. I might have also asked to finish my thank-you cards. Still, I would've have entertained the thought. After reading "If you decide to go to the moon" by Faith McNulty to Charlie Pride my answer is a most definite "no way, Hosee" (that's how someone in my family says 'Jose'. She doesn't speak Spanish)."If you decide to go to the moon" is about a little boy who travels to the moon by himself. He is giving pointers to anyone wishing to do the same in the future. Here are some moon facts I perhaps didn't know or liked being reminded about (and I will not reveal which is which) that we read in the book:
- It takes 2 1/2 days to travel to the moon
- Space is dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark,
- Space goes on forever
- Stars surround you on all sides but they are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far away
- On the moon, "EVERYTHING is all ONE color- silvery gray" (my emphasis)
- No matter how much you bring with you to the moon (books, games, etc.), you will run out & will have no place to buy more
- You would burn up in the light or freeze to death in the dark if you were to take your space suit off on the surface of the moon
- There is NO AIR
- There is NO SOUND- no music, no voices, no sounds of rocks being kicked...nothing
- On the surface of the moon, NOTHING moves
- Everything is completely STILL
- It is an ENDLESS sea of gray, gray, gray, gray, gray
- Footprints made years and years ago look untouched
- The American flag looks like it is blowing in the wind because of the stiff wires that run through it
- When the astronauts find the flag upon arriving on the moon, it is flat in the dirt as it gets blown over by the spacecraft when it leaves
Besides being reminded of some interesting facts, this children's book really touched me. "Kelley, are you crying over a kid's book?" my husband asked me with a look of you've-got-to-be-kidding-me in it. It's not meant to be a sad book. Overall, it's very cute and I actually HIGHLY recommend it (and, no, I'm not getting paid to pimp the book!). When I think of the moon, I think of the way we see it from Earth, about space travels to the moon and the like. I never REALLY thought about traveling to the moon myself. I never thought about how I would actually FEEL if I were blasted into space and had to land on the moon alone. Reading about this boy's adventures made me so sad and almost gave me a breathless feeling. It made me anxious. It made me feel so small and so insignificant. It gave me a feeling of loneliness. I was sad for the boy way up in space all alone, as if he were my own son missing his family and chocolate milk, and he was just a drawing in a book.
"Up here in space you may feel very alone. Don't look back at Earth. It would make you even lonelier. This is the time to play cheerful music, eat a peanut butter sandwich, keep your eyes fixed on the shining moon..."
I asked Charlie Pride if he were to go the moon and could only take ONE person or thing with him, who or what would it be. He said he wanted to take his little brother. Sniffle, sniffle... I loved that answer.
After feeling sad, I turned the page to see beautiful artwork of life on Earth. This is where the little tears started to flow (and my son started looking at me like an alien). I suddenly felt extremely grateful and had an overwhelming urge to thank God for Earth, for water, for flowers, for PEOPLE, for dirt, for birds, for AIR, for love and leaves and rain and lightning. For life.
"Whenever you feel discouraged, look through your porthole. You will see a beautiful sight- Earth , surrounded by stars, shining like a blue-and-white ball on a Christmas tree"
I will never look at the moon the same again. Instead of just marveling at the moon's beauty, I will thank God for my life and for this beautiful place He has given us to live.