Today is the first supermoon of the year, the Pink Moon. It is rising large and bright in the darkening sky, a harbinger of Spring, renewal and rebirth. Most of us are living in a time of great upheaval even as our usual world slows to a stop. Nature does what she will do as humans try to survive the invisible scourge that is emptying entire cities. The resident gray heron is back at the lake, ready to feast on the fish and frogs as they emerge from the mud. I’ve not seen my beaver friend in a few weeks, the last time he was swimming around, minding his own business; when he saw me watching him, he dove to the bottom of the creek. (The time before that was when I face-planted on the sidewalk when out for an evening stroll – he chittered at me from the lake for a good five minutes before diving out of sight.)
I saw a report that red fox are trotting down Nassau Street in Princeton, no vehicular traffic to concern them and no people walking around to disturb them. Animals are emerging from wherever they hide in cities across America as we, the fortunate ones, huddle indoors, awaiting the final sweep of the virus; the all-clear from the medical community – because we are all acutely aware that only the health practitioners actually speak the truth, or the closest thing to the truth they can find. We busy ourselves by posting our photos to social media and writing our mundane thoughts on the happenings of the day, only to once again have good fortune allow us the opportunity of another uneventful, shelter-in-place day. To be among the people who are still working; who are not on the front lines dealing with the public or the critically ill, nor one of the people who are unsure of where their next meal is coming from or where they can safely lay their head tonight – to be counted among the fortunate is a true blessing. No longer can I bear to bemoan the plight of the house full of school-aged children and the complexities of remote work: these things are, above all, blessings bestowed upon the most fortunate.
So, as you gaze at the moon tonight, resplendent in her shimmering finery, count the many blessings you already have. I wish you to be among the most fortunate. I know I am.