TheBanyanTree: Fwd: The Moon, and Why we can't go past it

[Julie Anna Teague]

All of this talk about the moon made me think of this snippet that I
wrote down about my son, Andy, who is now 20.  Fourteen years ago.  My
god, where does the time go?  What he doesn't realize is that when I
look at his nearly 21 year old self, with his muscles and tattoos and
moving into his own co-op house this August, I still see this little
tow-headed boy, too.  For those of you who know the adult kid, I hope
this makes you smile a little as it did me.

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 08:42:28 -0500 (EST)

Andy and I were waxing philosophical last night as we drove through the
twilight on the way to contradance.  This six-nearly-seven year old has a
power over me--the power to make me laugh with tears rolling down my face,
the power to amaze, to make me fish around for words to explain the almost
unexplainable, or to explain the things that are so simple that I've never
thought to put words to them.

And so it was as we delved into spiritual matters last night.  We talked
about how Elvis has been dead for twenty years now.  Andy is fascinated
with Elvis, and he says it seems like he died just yesterday.  I asked him
why and he said it is because he can still listen to his music anytime.
We talked about the spirit, how the spirit is the part of us that doesn't
die.  Andy and I have many conversations about the spirit.  We talked
about the different things that people believe happen to their spirit when
they die.  Andy told me what he believes.  Then this six year old boy told
me that no one is right, no one really KNOWS.  Or conversely, I said,
everyone is right.

I love his questioning.  I see a spark in him that I fail to see in many
people around me, adults and otherwise.  Sometimes he is exasperating
because he questions everything.  He questions, whether I am stating facts
or offering opinion.  I sometimes have to go to great lengths to convince
him of something.  He has the spark that starts fires, this son of mine.

On the way home, still talking, we look to the skies.  The moon is nearly
full.  The manface is big-eyed and open-mouthed.  I tell him about the Sea
of Tranquility.  Andy asks how we can keep moving, yet we never drive past
the moon, and I try to tell him how it works like that when things
are very, very far away.  He says he doesn't understand.  I'll draw you a
picture, I tell him.  He says how can I draw a picture of how we can't go
past the moon.  These are difficult things.

We lost the moon for a bit, and Andy was ready to disprove all my theories
about the moon and distance, then turned back east and there it was,
hanging right over our house.  This morning he reminds me, "Remember you
are going to draw me a picture of the moon and why we can't go past it."
So I have to go do that now.


Julie













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