(ART CREDIT: Hare and the Moon by Loz Ramsey)
So what are you doing this weekend during the BLUE MOON? The last time it happened was in January 2018 and I remember exactly what happened that day: I found a houseboat for sale that I bought in a snowstorm. (This answers the question "which came first: the boat or the island.")
I remember thinking how crazy for someone to be selling a boat in the middle of winter. And I guess that makes us even crazier to be buying one, especially without even knowing if I would find an island to rent for the summer ANYWHERE. To me my "Blue Moon Beauty" the SS Peacebunny represents crazy hope. Whether or not everything worked out exactly as planned, it served as the we-can't-go-back-now moment, driving the journey. I invested the money I'd won through entrepreneurship contests into this houseboat. On top of that on that blue moon I was 14, an eighth grader living the dream, and yet I still didn't have a drivers license, boat operators permit, or a full plan in place for who was going to help drive it the 100 miles up the Mississippi River to the Twin Cities. To park the boat where? Like everything along this unconventional journey, it also represents a series of huge learning moments. So many things I needed to learn -- about me, about the river, about boats, about bureaucracy, about how the world works.
I remember thinking how far away the next Blue Moon in October 2020 would be: I tried to imagine being in high school, completing Eagle Scout, being old enough to drive. I saw it would be a Presidential election year. And I had so many questions about my place in the world: Would we still be at the same farm? Would I be driving yet? Would my best friend still live across the street? How could I make the bunny dream sustainable?
There were so many things about 2020 that back then none of us could have ever imagined. Yet here we are. I rely on wisdom from my Great Grandma who is turning 101 years old this month. She's spunky and wise and she freely speaks her mind because frankly -- I believe she's earned it. Here's what she says: "I prayed that God would give me five more years." If you ask her about how she envisions 2025 and she'll say "Oh honey, I prayed that a LONG time ago! But I know I've got to stick around at least until I can vote. And I must have a purpose because I haven't been called home yet. Maybe I'm here just to keep praying..."
When you ask her about the future, she says that she trusts in the One who puts the sky together who has proven decade after decade that we're not alone. And she's lived through polio epidemics, depressions, World war I and II, Cold wars, Sept 11, market crashes, lots of changes as each US President took oath that many thought would be the end of the world as we knew it. She's also seen polio vaccines, end of wars, peaceful transitions of power, and that somehow the sun comes up, the moon still rises, and some things are gentle reminders that everything is going to be ok. It's about perspective that the moonlit sky gives. It's humbling to look up and understand how small you are and how this moment is just a blink on the timeline.
I hope you have something super special planned for Saturday to mark this season in your life: the good, the bad, the challenges, the hopes. We do and I'm excited. It's how our family rolls.
The next Blue Moon will happen is August 31, 2023. That seems so very far away just like the one this weekend did when I bought the boat. Yet here we are.
So go out there and celebrate and mark this date in history. I for one am choosing crazy hope in the future and will keep on doing what we're doing with the firm intention keep blessing to others by sharing the Peacebunnies. I wonder how wonderful 2023 will be... Thanks for sharing the journey with me and my furry friends. And with that I want to wish you a Hoppy Blue Moon!
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