Once in a Blue Moon (a guest post by MTM)
If you haven’t made it out to gaze at the Blue Moon, let this post inspire you.
Every day we live passes methodically and in most cases unremarkably. Sure, there are the landmark dates; the birthdays, the anniversaries, the varied special or Hallmark dates that we feel inspired or compelled to take note of. May 22, 1997 was not one of those ‘important’ dates. Maybe its significance came as it marked the transition when the warmth of the Spring day finally triumphed and carried over into the night.
It was the night that I remember. I was living in one of a long string of easy sublets that I habituated in my time in Chicago; this one was a three-month stint in a three-lobed tower at the south end of the Loop. Restless and rootless, I went to see a film–don’t recall what film–at the Fine Arts Theater in the old Studebaker Building on Michigan Avenue. Afterwards I found myself wandering about the city, a flaneur with the flat patois of the upper midwest.
I recall seeing a girl waiting to cross the street. In the bright moonlight she struck me as cute, at least from my distance. The light changed and she crossed. For a moment I thought of following her. But I didn’t; then she was gone. I headed off into Grant Park, eluding the aim of Bowman and Spearman, the two Indian Warriors that guard the entrance on Congress Ave. Once ensconced in the darkness of the park, the soundtrack of the night rose in my ears.
I knew this was more than a simple full moon; in honor of the occasion, the haunting sound of the Cowboy Junkies‘ “Blue Moon Revisited” had been echoing off the bare walls in my apartment earlier that night. Now, shrouded in the lonesome night, I was no longer listening to it. It was speaking to me. Painfully.
Who was it that caught my eye that night, then disappeared? Was the girl even real? All I know is that when I saw her again, five years later at a little cafe in Charleston, I did not hesitate.
WHAT???? You seriously saw Andra five years before you met her and remembered all that time and ….. YOW WOW.
That’s an amazing “blue moon” encounter for sure! How lovely! And yes, I’ve been taking photos of the moon all week. I never know what to do with them, but I do enjoy taking them. Lovely post. You two are a delight. Debra
I love this story whether it is factual or not. It is as romantic as a blue moon.
This is one of the best stories of a blue moon I have ever read, and a sweet one at that. Our sighting was spectacular for a short while last night, then clouds came in and shrouded the moon. Thank you for sharing your story.
Bill and I are in the annual season when we remember our meeting, initial communications that culminated in our first and only “date”–b/c everything after that was commitment–and this reminds me once again that love could be evanescent as the blue moon.
I’m called to cherish much more tightly the existence of love among the pressures of the daily (in the sun) grind.
What a wonderful tale of fate and intertwined lives.
Such a cool story, an apparition in Chicago reincarnates in a coffee shop in Charleston.
The moon was amazing last night. I went out at 9:00 p.m. to see it and it was rising beautifully through the trees lining our street. Pictures do not do the beauty of this night justice………….
Fun to read this, both for the memories of Chicago and the vision of the Mystery Girl, lost then found.
Very sweet story. And the “truth” of seeing Anda is all that matters – not the reality. Great song by the Cowboy Junkies too. They have always been on of my go-to mood music groups.
That’s lovely, factual or not!
What a heart warming little tale!
WOW! If that wasn’t meant to be, I don’t know what was! That’s inspiring.
Sweet, tender, and beautiful. Well done MTM.
Lovely, MTM. Glad you ended up with the girl!