I have posted this before on here but thought now was a good time to do it
again.

Phil.

The Blind Side Of The Moon

by Phil Scovell



     I have been blind from detached retinas since age eleven.  I
well remember, however, my fascination with the stars and the moon
before going blind.  As a young boy, of course, I merely noticed
the celestial bodies when I played outdoors at night in my
neighborhood.  I remember, however, looking up often even during
the day and night to watch the clouds, lightning, the sun as it
rose and set, and especially the moon and stars during darkness.
Flying kites also gave me good opportunity to notice the daytime
sky.

     My favorite recollection is taking my uncle's borrowed pair
of binoculars, turning off the porch light, and laying on my back
in the middle of the front yard and gazing at the stars aided with
the magnification of the binoculars.  I can still smell the
freshly cut grass.  Though my uncle died a number of years ago, I
still have those old binoculars.  They are of no value to me now,
of course, because I can no longer use them but they mean a great
deal as far as memories are concerned.  I can still see the
sharpness of the stars through the binoculars as I studied them
magnified a few times through the lens.  I remember my excitement
as I discovered that stars were not just white twinkling white
lights on a velvety black curtain but they were stars, suns
actually, radiating color.  I made this discovery the first time
viewing the stars with the binoculars because I could clearly see
the twinkling blue, green and even red.  I removed the binoculars
from my eyes and stared up into the darkness of the night at the
stars.  To the naked eye, of course, they twinkled white as though
someone had sprinkled salt over a black tablecloth.  Returning the
binoculars to my eyes, again I noticed the distinct blues, greens,
and reds some stars radiated.  I repeated the process several
times before I was finally convinced stars really had colors.  It
was many years later, upon reading an astronomy book, I learned
that the colors were real and that they revealed the distant suns
radiating magnitude.  their colors also indicate if they are
moving toward the earth or away from it.  The Big Dipper had been
pointed out to me once by someone and I often looked up to locate
it while playing in the darkness.  I knew nothing of the other
constellations and wish I would have learned more when I could
have viewed them.  Now, all these years later and unable to watch
them, I wish I would have spent more time viewing the beauty of
these heavenly bodies.

     On July 20, 2000, we had a total eclipse of the moon and it
brought back all the memories I had of the moon.  that evening,
several friends described the moon has it went through the phases
of eclipse.  I felt a little sad at first because I longed to see
it for myself, having never seen a full eclipse in my younger
days, but then I let my mind review all the memories I had of the
moon and it helped.  As a boy, just playing hide and seek, I can
remember seeing the moon on warm summer nights as a bright white
milky beacon in the sky, high overhead, illuminating the yard as I
scouted for my hidden friends.  I remember cold winter nights when
the moon was small and crystalline in its brightness and white as
the snow upon which it reflected.  On extreme cold Iowa winter
nights the moon was so bright, it illuminated the snow crystals
and they sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds across the yard.
I remember times seeing the moon large and low, hanging just
above the horizon as though it were a milky white balloon tethered
by an invisible string.  I can even recall seeing the moon hanging
low in the sky in early mornings in broad day light as though it
were translucent.  My favorite memory was a harvest moon.

     My little sister and I had just climbed into the car with our
parents.  It was chilly, as I recall, and we were leaving for an
evening church service on a Wednesday evening.  It was late
October or early November.  Our car rounded a corner near our home
and there, perched on the edge of the world, was the largest
display of the moon I ever saw.  It was huge and almost orange in
color.  It seemed so close, it appeared three dimensional and I
wondered if we could drive to the edge of the earth and drive
right up on to the moon's surface.  I could clearly see the dark
outlines on the moon made by the huge craters I had read about
and I secretly wished I could go to the moon to walk on its
surface.  Later I learned this was called a harvest moon because
of its orange tint.  I never got to be an astronaut but maybe some
day somehow, I will get to go to the moon.  At least for now,
though I am blind and can no longer see its friendly face hanging
in the night's sky, I can remember.


The Curse That Works Is The One We Believe
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