The man in the moon and the Solar eclipse
It was nights like this that I could feel the earth’s serenity. The calm stillness, the beauty of the moon. Watching the darkness through my telescope recognising that there is a wide universe out there. Infinity around me, up and all around.
Astronomy has always fascinated me. I would spend hours with my grandmother watching the stars. When I was a child, she told me a story about a man in the moon. He lives in one of the many craters and is in charge of the planets and space. One of God’s many angels keeping the solar system in order.
When she died my dad told me that she was now sat with the man in the moon. Helping to keep the universe, the moon and the stars in check. I often imagine her sat with a harp with the other angels. Maybe bossing them around, taking charge. It gives me great peace to think of her up there.
Today I have my own little girl. A little girl who loves to hear about the man in the moon. The night’s when she should be sleeping, she will come and find me lost in the world of stars. It is a story she has told her school friends and her teacher. Mrs Francis did not seem so keen on the idea, a teacher with very little imagination. Rosie was insistent that the man existed. Mrs Francis was quick to tell her that this was childish nonsense. Yes, I had a very upset seven year old.
Helping Rosie to believe and showing her the moon’s craters. Talking about the magic and love. The beauty of the universe and space still unknown. How far does space go? does it really go forever?
Is the universe captured in a ball that we are not aware of? Are we part of an experiment? How accurate was Douglas Adams with ‘Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy’? No one has ever travelled to the end of the universe, how could they? Will they ever? How much is out there that we do not know? The universe is a subject you could philosophise forever and still not know the answer, only theorize.
My husband Greg loves to look at the stars and planets with me. He likes my Grandmother’s story but doesn’t believe it. Saying it is a fairy tale he will just dismiss it. To me if there is a God who made the heavens and earth, why wouldn’t there be an angel on the moon? Sounds like a good vantage point to me.
Sitting here now, watching the night sky, I feel a pull on my sleeve,
“Mummy, is he up there?”
“Yes, Rosie, always.”
“Can I have a look?”
“Of course.” I helped her on to my stool and she looked through the telescope at the moon.
“I see him, I see him.” She said excitedly.
“He is always keeping watch, now why are you awake? it’s late.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You have school tomorrow, come on.”
“Will you read to me?”
“What do you want to read.”
“The man in the moon” I smiled I knew exactly what book she meant. Written by William Joyce and one of her favourite books. Lifting her down, I carried her back to bed. I had only read five pages before she closed her eyes and then I heard her quiet snoring. Placing the book back under her bed I went downstairs to the kitchen.
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Putting milk in a mug for my evening Horlicks, Greg walked in.
“All okay?”
“Yes, do you want Horlicks?”
“Yes, is Rosie alright?”
“She’s back to sleep now, helped by the man in the moon.” Greg smiled he knew what I meant.
Now adding Horlicks to the hot milk, I passed it to Greg and then heated milk for myself. Sitting at the kitchen table we now talked about our day. It is late but we are guilty of conversations late at night when we should be going to sleep.
The stresses of the day, working, cooking, cleaning, family duties. Then school and Rosie. At the end of the day, we are both exhausted. Those couples that fit everything in and still find quality time for each other are lucky. I find myself so worked up with daily life that sitting here with our Horlicks is the most we can manage.
Drinking my Horlicks and scanning my Facebook newsfeed, I caught an article that interested me. There was going to be a total solar eclipse in the next two days and we were in the right location to see it. This would mean that the Sun’s Corona, the aura of plasma that surrounds it, will be visible to the naked eye. It is amazing because it extends so far into space from the sun and stars. I quickly thought about it, it was forecast to happen on Saturday.
There is so much to learn about space and events such as the Solar eclipse. I understand very little about the Sun’s corona, just that it is the pretty fuzziness around the sun.
I smiled to myself thinking about angels in space. I assumed there was no one guarding the sun because they would get burnt. However, they might have super-powers, they are angels after all.
Despite my fascination with astronomy and space we have never travelled to see an eclipse, we have always watched from our garden. Greg got up and went to the drawer for the solar glasses. We are prepared knowing that you should never look directly at the sun.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Saturday soon arrived and we are now stood in our garden with our glasses admiring the eclipse and the Corona. As we stood and watched, Rosie asked,
“Do you think the man in the moon is watching as well?”
“Yes, darling, I’m sure he is up there admiring it as well, he is in charge up there.”
“Mummy, he is doing a good job, it is beautiful.”
“Yes, it really is”. I thought about the beauty of the universe and its intricacies. There is so much that we still need to learn and so much that we can admire and enjoy. I held Rosie’s hand and gave it a squeeze, she looked up at me and squeezed mine back. Happily watching the days amazing spectacle.
Written for Blog Battle –Corona
For more see, Money, a walk and a tight situation. Written for Blog battle Airtight.
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16 Comments
lindasschaub
Marian – I was told there was a man in the moon as well and that the moon was made of cheese. (And I believed those two things when I was a little nipper.) 🙂
Just muddling through life
Such a lovely thought. X
lindasschaub
It was fun to be a kid wasn’t it?
Just muddling through life
yes it certainly was.
Lance Greenfield
My Dad explored the night sky with me from a very early age, but he once told me a lie about the moon which I believed for a few years. In 1961, the news was full of stories about the Russians building a wall to separate eat and west Berlin. My Dad told me that the shadow that we could see down the centre of the moon was a reflection of that Berlin wall. Even though I knew that not to be true by the time that I was about seven, when the wall eventually came down in 1989 I ran out to look at the moon to check if the shadow was still there. I am still grateful to him for making me interested and curious about everything.
Just muddling through life
Wow that is an interesting story. I will now be looking at the moon now for the shadow. Your dad had a good imagination. Thanks for sharing. Yes it is good to be interested and curious about things!
Lance Greenfield
He did! Take a look at Tony’s Toast and Decamile
Just muddling through life
I will have a proper look another time as it is now 11.15pm.. but I will have a read.. Thankyou!
Gary
Straight in with REM,s Man on the Moon. I take it this is quite a well know story and one I’ve not hear of. Suddenly REM’s song has wider depth. This could be fiction or, very easily, true with your thoughts on this and cosmologogical theorising. Young children are brilliant for keeping this sort of thing alive too through their incessant energy about everything.
Could it be the recent disclosure of dense matter in a Moon crater is your angels control complex?
Lovely story Marian
Just muddling through life
Ha ha, a friend quoted REM to me earlier today. I had actually forgotten about REM. To be honest, I googled Corona and misread it. I thought the corona was related to the moon, hence the story. So the man in the moon and the theorising is from me… it was at about 700 words that I realised that corona was related to the sun. Hence the last few paragraphs on the solar eclipse.. oops.. thank you.
Gary
It was a seamless fix at the end! I think with prompts it’s often best to just write without too much thinking. See where it goes kind of thing. This works well because it’s exactly the sort of thing young children get told while parents relive their own early years.
Gosh, REM was the first thing I associated with this one! I put that against this and thought maybe it was a real story!!!
Just muddling through life
Thanks Gary! Yes it is a nice idea of a man or Angel up there, looking after us. I can’t believe I didn’t think of REM. When my friend mentioned it, I said what song? But I do know it very well. No it’s all my head, not a real story.. however some of it could be true, there could be angels watching over us, there could be a man on the moon.. we just don’t know..
Gary
With our politicos I sure do hope something is watching over us!
Songs are often things I associate quickly. This title was too easy there lol. Great imagination to bring this one up out of the grey matter too. Great job!
Just muddling through life
Thankyou Gary! Yes something needs to watch the human race..
D. Parker
Loved this and love the night sky, the moon, the stars, the mystery, the what ifs…thank you and off to share. Dropped by today from #BloggersPitStop and so glad I did. 🙂
Hope the week ahead is full of peace, love, and moonlight. 🙂
Just muddling through life
Thankyou very much, I’m pleased that you enjoyed it. Hope you have a good week too!