HAYWARD MOON

A month ago I walked down to the waterfront to watch the full moon rise, (I think it was the Harvest Moon), and then a few hours later, just before I went to bed, I walked up the hill to the little park, where there are no lights, and did a little bit more moon watching. Mr. Kitty actually followed me up there - quite far from home for a bed kitty - and also Big Boy, who roams this territory every night. They both purred and wrapped themselves around me as we all stood in the silence and moonlight.
The moon has some special meaning for me dating from my days in Hayward, Ca., a town on the edge of the east bay, full of used car lots and run down strip malls. My life then seemed so prosaic and I felt so lost to the mysteries inside of me. When I finally began to re-connect to them, I was in a very scary place, and was not sure how or where to start, but I knew I needed a place to go of my own, and so I sort of moved into to the old ramshackle 1920's garage in the back yard. I started spending all my time there, playing with drawings, writing, etc.
And when I came outside after an evening there, it would be late, and I would see the moon rising over the back yard (which by day was ugly - with piles of rusty old metal, old plastic toys, broken bicycles and an old volkswagon) and the moon would just transform everything- and breathe life into all of my intuitive suspicions.
So now I go out and see the moon several times a month, and I am always looking for it in the sky, to see if it is waxing or waning. Sometimes I can be out shopping, and see the full moon rise of Kmart, and it seems even more amazing that it does in beautiful Port Costa, where I now live, and I call that a Hayward Moon, because the drama and magic of it transforms our everyday life.