Luna



SuperMoon comparison



When the moon becomes full this Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 11:35 p.m. EDT it will be the year's largest full moon. Scientifically this is because the full moon this month coincides with the perigee of the moon to the Earth, its closest approach. They call this the SuperMoon.

Since the moon's close approach differs by about three percent, experts note that this is the nearest perigee of the year as well. They say the moon will be sixteen percent brighter than average. That's a lot.

Conversely, the moon's apogee (furthest away) coincides with the full moon on November 28th this year, so that will be a much smaller moon. That's okay, too.

I've always liked the moon.

I'm not the only one who likes the moon. Sometimes when Darling doesn't think I'm listening I hear her whisper these words from a German children's game, and I know she's thinking of (and missing) her Mom.

"Der Mond ist rund, der Mond ist rund. Er hat zwei Augen, Nase, Mund."
("The moon is round, the moon is round. It has two eyes, nose and mouth.")

Don't get me wrong. I like the sun too. The moon, though, has always had a special appeal to me. I guess that makes me a lunatic.

When I first moved away from home in Michigan in 1980 I really missed my Mom. I was busy, surely, but there were many odd moments when I wondered what she was doing. In the days before cell phones I would often forget to call when I got home, so many opportunities to say "hi" to her were lost, and I'm sorry for that. I wish my Mom knew how special she was to me.

There were some nights, even some of the those odd nights when I was working late at the plant, that I'd look up and see the moon and smile. You see, Mom told me something after I was here for a bit. She said she would often look at the moon in the sky at night and whisper these words:

"I see the moon and the moon sees me. God bless the moon and God bless me."

She said she would think of me, knowing we could see the same moon. That always made me feel better, too.

I didn't know that these words were from a lullaby until I did a Google search while writing this article and hit this blog post.

So the moon is special to me. This Saturday, when there is a supermoon for the year, I will look up and think of Mom. And I'll miss her, because this moon doesn't shine on her any more.