Full Moon

It seemed appropriate to take a picture of the full moon on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon launch on July 16, 1969. Of course it was the middle of the night when I took the picture, leaning against the bedroom door frame and holding my breath, so I'm publishing it today.  Apparently the footprints left by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin* are still there. 

Everybody can remember what they were doing five days later when Neil Armstrong took the first step on the surface of the moon. Most events that stay in our memories like that are not happy ones (the assassination of JFK and 9/11 to name but two) but Neil Armstrong's 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' was truly thrilling. 

We were at McClure's Beach in what is now the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. Dana was three years old , Matt was 18 months and Tim was an infant. We used to love packing up a picnic lunch and driving to Pt Reyes, somehow managing the mile long hike from the parking lot to the beach with three small kids and all that stuff. On that particular day we also carried with us a transistor radio. We were the only people on the beach as we huddled around the radio knowing we were listening to history being made.

It occurs to me that for a brief period, the world was united as never before as we all gathered around our televisions and radios. A phrase that often comes to mind when I'm looking at Blippers' pictures of the moon is, 'the moon shines upon all of us'. It belongs to all of us and none of us.

Perhaps we can all reunite again on July 21st, remembering where we were and what we were doing 50 years ago...the day the Eagle landed on the moon and the first humans first stepped onto the Sea of Tranquillity. 

*Picture of Buzz Aldrin taken by Neil Armstrong. Reprinted in the New York Times Special Section, July 14, 2019