Writing

We walked at Our Lady of Fatima shrine this month

My granddaughter, Ellie, came to visit for our walk when the moon is full adventure this past weekend. 

We picked poke berries and mashed them to make paint with a mortar and pestle. We cut open milkweed pods and discovered silky seeds. We picked Jewelweed pods and popped them open. We found a box turtle and counted scute rings to speculate its age.

We searched for Jiminy Cricket in the garage and experienced the wonders of surround sound and marveled about how one tiny insect could be so loud by just rubbing its forewings together. We chased grasshoppers even as she kept up her “I’m so scared of bugs” narrative.

As night fell, we drove to a nearby outdoor shrine to walk under the full moon. She brought her American Girl doll and we carried flashlights. We spoke about how waaay back when, before electricity, farmers finished gathering their crops after dark by the light of the harvest moon.

As we walked around the reflecting pool, we witnessed several large frogs jump in and we watched the koi swim in the murky depths. When she asked about the statues, I told her the story about Our Lady who appeared in white, as bright as the sun, in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, to three young children with a message of hope.

About that time, my husband shined his flashlight down from above her head, she looked up, and I took a photo that captured a marvelous expression with the statue and full moon in the background.

Later, she pointed out the clouds on the moon looked like rippled sand she’s seen on the beach. I know sand ripples are called saltation, but what’s the physical process called for rippled clouds, I wondered.

We wrapped up our moon time with a bedtime story or three, only this time around, she read them to me. 

“Be brave to explore in the daring unknown. Be brave to return to the cozy of home. Be brave to BE YOU on your journey begun. Let your heart lead the way…be brave little one!”

See you in October for the Hunter’s Full Moon! xox

As we drive to Ironton, Ohio for our full moon walk on the levee, it is her, instead of me, who is the first to say, “Would you look at that beautiful sunset?” I put my phone away and look.

We park and stroll on the paved walkway, our companions the river and flood wall. One mimics the moody sky, the other is painted with murals of sunshine, flowers, and a quote by Audrey Hepburn, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

A little further up and we can see over the flood wall. There are more murals painted on the overpass piers by the train tracks with messages of hope, love, and healing. 

We reach the top of the levee and see the moon. It’s been watching our backs this whole time. It hangs in the sky beside the courthouse dome. We take the posed photos and talk about why it’s called the Sturgeon moon. We speak of Jupiter and Saturn and planets vs. stars and in the talk of a vast universe, under the glow of street lamps, her small voice croaks, “I miss my daddy.”

He’s been out of town this week, so we FaceTime on the ride home.

This month’s walk when the moon is full is flavored with change. This is her first week of 2nd grade and she is bolder. Instead of asking to go slow in the gator, she yells, “Go faster!” 

She no longer wants to order a kid’s meal but assures me, “If you get one Mimi, I’ll take the toy so you don’t have to keep it.”

And at bedtime I am no longer needed to lie down beside her while she goes to sleep. She points out the full moon peering through the window, her nightlight. Her safety. But after a while, she asks me to come hold her hand.

So I return to her room and do just that.