SuperMoon

So right now, hovering outside my window somewhere, is a Supermoon. You've probably heard. Tonight the moon is bigger and brighter than it's been for nearly 20 years. This is due to technicalities of both its orbit and its cycle. Also possibly water retention, but we won't mention that aloud...no one wants to hear she's bloated when she's also dealing with her cycle.

Astute friend and famous Just Dancer Annette alerted me to this cosmic event and suggested it might be a good night for the sunset-watching that's on my list, with a spectacular moonrise thrown in. I agreed, envisioning a magical family moment where we would park on a mountainside, cameras and binoculars in hand, possibly with ice cream and/or classical music. We would watch the sun set in the west and turn to see an astounding moonrise in the east. The children would speak in hushed, amazed whispers, peering over our shoulders at the majesty of the moonscape, and we would speak both excitedly and reverently about the wonderful Creator.

You already know where this is going, don't you? Here's how it actually went down.

I'm not sure what mountaintop I thought we were going to be on. This is central New Jersey. We ended up at a mall. Specifically, the parking deck outside Menlo Park Mall in Edison. I had stuff to return to Old Navy.

In my defense, the top level of a parking deck is not a terrible vantage point for watching the horizon. Considerably less picturesque than a mountaintop, but what are you going to do?

As it turns out, Menlo Park's two decks are situated in such a way that we had to choose between a good look at the sunset and a good look at the moonrise. We chose the moon, positioning ourselves at the far end of the deck facing due east. I did turn around and watch what I could see of the sunset, but it was less than spectacular.

I'm going to count this as actually watching a sunset. It did set. I did watch. I promise I will make up for it...I will be spending 6 weeks this summer in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and I will watch a better sunset. But I live in Jersey, and I'm counting this.

Anyhow, after the sunset we turned our attention to the eastern horizon, awaiting the moon. The worldwide interweb told us it would rise at 7:28. The kids and I sat and watched and waited. My sweet husband returned my Old Navy stuff. Upon his return at 7:31, there was still no visible moon.

At 7:44 I took this picture. Sorry it's blurry...it was some kind of crazy long exposure.

See the moon? Yeah, me neither. At this point Mark was playing Solitaire on his iPhone. Joy and Will were making up a song called "Where the Heck is the Moon?" I thought Jack was singing along, but it turned out he was singing happy birthday to Chuck E. Cheese and to a backhoe. Also, he was removing his socks and putting them on his hands.

Not quite the magical family experience I was envisioning.

I teetered for a moment between grumpy disappointment and laughter, then opted for the laughter. It all seemed pretty appropriate, somehow. And memorable.

The boys are supposed to be in bed at 8, so I released everyone from the obligation to sit there and humor me while we waited for the Supermoon. Mark backed out of the parking space and drove about 30 feet before Joy yelled, "There it is!!"

And there it was. We'd parked so close to the edge of the deck that the building across the street had obscured the moon from our view. And it really was beautiful. Big and golden and suspended like a giant, amber-colored pearl over the silhouetted treetops. We turned the car around and looked for a moment, soaking it in. Then I hopped out of the car and took a picture.

I'm not sure I can express to you how lame this photo is. I know the relative size of the moon is mostly a trick of the eyes and the horizon, but I swear to you that when we were sitting there it looked at least 5 times bigger than it looks here. Also, more crazy-long-exposure blurriness.

The moon is the blob of light immediately to the right of the top right corner of the building. Not the bright, round, white one. That would be a security light. The yellow, unimpressive one to the left of the security light, kind of shaped like a pumpkin.

Yeah.

Please forget my ridiculous photo and remember instead this much, much nicer photo taken by someone who is not me. This is tonight's moon rising over Manchester, England.

THAT is what it looked like. Except add New Jersey to the horizon. (So a McDonald's, a Panera Bread, a gas station, three or four banks, an IHOP, myriad poles and wires, and a billion cars.) Even so, it was really impressive.

As I got back in the car, I think I told the kids that this might be the biggest full moon they would ever see. And I think someone (I want to say Will, but it honestly could have been Mark) responded with a comment about the moon's butt crack. And then we drove home.

I was reminded tonight that I like the moon, that I like my family, and that mixing up our routine to do something a little nutty is a good thing. Once in a while. :)

Thanks, Annette!