Getting the Moonbeam Glow

Late, two nights ago, I was sitting on the sofa, after a tiring day and looked up and saw what could be a really beautiful moon. I got up and opened up the front door, stepped out, and was just amazed by it. I called out to my barber husband, 

“Come here! You have to see the moon!” 

He comes out of the kitchen and onto the front porch and hugs me from behind as we both look up. 

“Yeah, that sure is pretty isn’t it?” he says with a squeeze. We watch for a minute or two, as the clouds, very quickly covered, and then uncovered, and again recovered the moon. Suddenly, he suggests,

“Why don’t you take pictures of it?”

I had just spent some time that day shooting, and was pooped. It was so dark outside, I knew I would need a tripod, and I have no lens for that type of shot. 

“Nah,” I said. “Won’t turn out good, it will be gone soon, and I’m tired.”

He asked me again, and prodded me bit, until I agreed but told him don’t expect much. (I apologize for the graininess...had highest iso set and it was handheld...)

My camera was still in the living room and I knew I had no time for the tripod, as the clouds were coming in and very soon, the moon would be covered. I turn on my camera, look up, zoomed in, and began to focus the lens.

And just like that...

...I am once again one in my own world with my camera.  Everything around me disappears, as I work my settings, watch the clouds, refocus, and kept clicking. All these photos were taken in less than one minute, as the clouds seemed to whip by and then before I knew it, the moon disappeared quietly, behind a soft blanket of wispy clouds.

Why am I sharing this? 

Well, mainly because I like you a lot, and like to share. But also, that tiny exercise in creativity was such a wonderful reminder of how our lives can be filled with creative passion. I define creative passion as an adventure that leaves the creator longing for more time to create. 

Isn’t that what passionate, creative souls actually long for? More time? We don’t long to actually crave to create, because we do and always will. But the issue of time is actually paradoxical. While I am passionately creating (be it cooking, designing, shooting, painting, gardening...), I am lost in a timeless euphoria, while at the same time, keenly aware of how confining my creative clock continues to tick loudly. Be it the constant movement of natural light that challenges my creativity, moment by moment. Or be it the time it takes for paint to dry, a cake to rise, or for vegetables to grow in my garden. How incongruous  is my creative spirit that gets lost in the passion of weeding, clipping, caring, watering, and eventually, harvesting my vegetables, while at the same time, patiently present of the seasons and the time it takes to produce the products of my passion?

Although it was late, and I was tired, as soon as I held up my camera to my eye, it was as if I was being refreshed. I no longer was tired, and I didn’t even notice that my beloved quietly left me alone on the porch, as he learned long ago, my love affair with my lens is a competition he rather not enter. 

What this experience taught me was taking only a moment for our passion is like fresh air to the creative soul. We so often put off our creative projects for so many reasons...it is late...I am tired...need to get the house cleaned...must cook dinner...and on and on. But what is so easy to forget is that even if only for a moment, the more we indulge our creative soul, the more alive we are for our loved ones and are able to perform our daily, mundane chores with more purpose  Everything just seems better, feels better, and looks better when our creative soul is momentarily released.

Like I stated earlier, these images took less than one minute to take...but that one minute ignited my creative spirit with a blast of fresh air. When I returned from the porch and joined my barber husband on the sofa, I forgot I was even tired. I happily clicked through my images on the camera screen to show him, and he smiled down at me and said, “Aren’t you glad you took the pictures now?” 

I smiled up at him.

I nodded and thought how happy I am to be on our sofa, with my beloved, and with the very slight glow of moonbeam shining in through our window. 

And that is what our creative spirit is like...it can brightly glow, or at times, it can only slightly glow...we just need to keep our window open so as to receive the beauty of our passion.

May your moonbeam always glow...just keep your window open to receive it.

from my house to your house,