Meet Me On The Moon

A long, long time ago in a land far, far away, my sister Cathie and I used to live in the same time zone. Heck, not only the same time zone, but the same state, city, and zip code even!

Cathie is older than me by seven years. That is a huge difference when growing up. That means as the baby sister, I absolutely idolized her. She was blond, skinny, beautiful, independent, strong and in my fourteen year old eyes, everything I ever wanted to be. She was perfection.

And then she left. She loaded up the truck in a move to Beverly. Ok, maybe not Beverly Hills, but she did go to California. Do you realize that California is 3,000 miles away from Pennsylvania? That was definitely the worst thing that I had gone through so far in my first fourteen years of life. How do I say good bye to my sister? My idol?

Back in these olden days before cell phones, long distance calls were not so easy to come by in my house. They cost a lot of money to call that far. Phone calls were few and far between. No internet yet, so it was only snail mail. They never came fast enough or often enough.

I did have a hard time adjusting to the separation. So, Cathie came up with a corny solution. Yes, I know it's corny, but it helped.

At a predetermined time, Cathie and I would both walk outside and look up at the moon. It wouldn't matter if it was a full moon, or a sliver of a moon. As long as we could see any part of the moon, and we were standing outside at the same time, looking at the same moon, it was like being magically together even for a short time. Looking at the moon with Cathie would be like a hug from far away. I could go out there and cry a little, but knowing Cathie was doing the same thing as I was, it made it a little easier to cope with her being so far away.

As the years have gone by, we have changed a little. For one, I grew up. I still think Cathie is awesome, and still miss her like crazy, but contact is easier now. If I have a secret I need to tell someone, I call Cathie. If I have a concern I want to talk about, I call Cathie. We still call each other if we see an awesome full moon. That always makes us think of the other! But other than that, there haven't been any planned dates on the moon in a long time.

Until last week.

Last Thursday night was a blue moon. That's what happens about once every three years when there are two full moons in a month. For this auspicious occasion, Cathie and I decided to meet on the moon at a certain time Thursday evening. I waited all week, counting down to the big moment. When the appointed time came, I walked out of the hotel a few minutes early so maybe I could find a nice piece of grass around here with a great view of the moon and then Cathie and I could have a nice long chat looking at the blue moon together!

And, horrors of horrors, the town I'm in was extremely overcast that night. There was not a moon nor a star to be seen. I called Cathie at the appointed time to give her the bad news. I could see nothing. I'm in tears over here with the disappointment, but Cathie worked her magic and made me feel better anyway. We chatted until way past my bedtime but that was ok! We had a great time.

After our phone call, Cathie took the picture above in her driveway so I could see what I missed.

Thanks, Sissy! I still miss you. I'll meet you on the moon any time.