There are times when the littlest things can make a
person feel as if anything is possible, when the most
commonplace of objects can strike a person in a certain way, leaving the person changed forever, and then slip back into the commonplace just as suddenly. The
moon has the power to move the oceans of the world; the moon has the power to teach a girl how to
love. A poor unsuspecting creature, who often gazed at the moon, admiring the beauty of
nothing more than a large rock, never dreamed of what it held in store for her in its
innocent glow.
On a warm
night, when the soft summer
breeze whispers in your ear, gently kissing your shoulders, one would
assume that love couldn't possibly be
difficult. That is of course, unless you were this girl. Many a late night this
creature would pass staring out the window, at moon and stars, wondering why she wasn't capable of falling in love. It's so easy for other people, she would think, why can't I?
"When you fall in
love you'll know", everyone would say to her, but that wasn't good enough for her. "HOW will I know?" she asked. This question was always followed by a coy smile, but nothing more. So she did
everything she could to figure out the
symptoms of being in love, trying to
mold the feelings inside of her to an abstract definition, hoping desperately to find that THING that comes so effortlessly to others.
Then HE came along. That one who
worships the ground you walk on, the one who would give up his life for you, the one who loves you genuinely,
unconditionally. "Surely this is the person with whom I will fall in love", she thought. Alas, rather than "knowing it" as everyone said she would, all she felt was
frustration when she wasn't "sure". Frustration escalated, what with that nagging
guilt each time he looks in your eyes searching for what he knows must be there, but you just cannot bring yourself to say.
However, on a warm summer's night, early in
June before the oppression of
July or
August even peeks around the corner, all that can change if the
moon is right.
There are moons that are just made for
chasing.
Never chased the moon? Try it some time. When the time is right you'll know, the moon will whisper "chase me!" and you'll have no choice but to comply. For me is was this warm summer's night, we had just gone to see some
movie, I can't for the life of me remember which one, but something about the night said it wasn't time to go home yet. In the
car, no destination in mind, we leave the
parking lot of the movie
theater, and for some
reason we both look to the moon. Without really needing to say a word, we both knew it had cast its
spell.
Now the thing about the moon is that it is never just straight ahead. It plays
games,
taunting you, dodging this way and that, directing you where it knows you need to be. For us it was the ocean. However, before we got there, the
focus of the evening suddenly changed. This poor girl
burst into tears, finally admitting the bottled up
frustration of thinking she was
incapable of love. When we pulled over at the beach, it was to sit and talk, never
suspecting that we were exactly where the moon wanted us to be.
After a few
hugs, and a few more
tears, we climbed out of the car to get some air, over the rocky barrier to the downward slope before the
beach. Then it caught us.
On these nights when the moon
beckons, if you find that one place on the water, you'll see not a
reflection, but pure
magic. All words stopped. There are no words for the process of
entrancement, the process of
enchantment. There is only magic. I still consider the sight before me that night the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, with the waves gently lapping at the rocks, and moon just
dancing on the water, casting its
shimmer upon the gently swelling surface.
Beauty like that cannot make a girl fall in love, I won't
lie. She did not fall in love with him that night, although he claims that was the night he first saw it in her
eyes. No, what it CAN do is change something in her
forever. Somehow this
enchantment made her realize that anything is possible, even if that "
anything" meant her falling in love.