WAIT TILL THE MOON IS FULL

By Heather Koelle

Shelly looked out her window at the silver disc, which almost floated in the sky.

She waited for the full moon for over twelve years and would make a wish. Evan had told her to wish on the full moon to bring good luck. And they would send messages of love back and forth but not their wishes.

When Shelly first met Evan, she had pepper and salt hair and was slim and full of life. Never give up, Evan said. Improvise, adapt, overcome.

And they did for over twelve long years.

Shelly's hair gradually became more silver each time she looked at the moon. Evan grew older, too, his dark hair streaked with grey.

 He was in his world, and she was in hers.

They kept communicating. They had met several times when he came East and each time, she knew he was "The One.”

The long separations were agony, but their love was the current flowing beneath their separate lives.

Sometimes, their love ebbed and flowed; other times, he was a mystery. It drew her in, like a moth to a flame.

But Shelly had tasted the melding of body, mind, and spirit. Echoes of her past no longer fit. But she remained loyal, as did Evan.

We are waiting... always waiting—so many years of waiting...

"When will we watch the moon standing side by side?" Shelly asked herself, "Will I die first, or will he before we can stand together with the silvery disc shining down on our heads?

Shelly knew that if the weather were clear, Evan would be looking. She knew when the sky was clear, she looked through the tall white pines outside her office window, that she would see it.
The weather in the West was sometimes not the same as the East. Then she would turn on Skyview on her phone, hunt for that silver circle, and wish on it to spite fate.

 Women came and went in Evan's life, always controlling his life like strings of a puppet.  He couldn’t say no to them but sometimes he longed for solitude.

The freedom to sculpt a story from a picture, to compose a poem from a thought. When Evan read his poems, Shelly saw into his soul and felt the center of him in her soul. Had they been brother and sister in a past life? Had they been lovers, then separated? Why did love continue to carry the treasure of him in her heart in this life? It happened too late, and their lives seemed cast in concrete. She wondered, will we meet while young in the next life, or are our lives set in stone? Will we marry? Will I bear his children?

Such were the thoughts of Shelly.

This year, her hair was completely silver, and her figure more matronly. But her hazel eyes still shone, and she smiled often. She knew they would be together soon.

She carried the treasured picture of him deep in her heart and waited,

and hoped.

It happened on a spring night, right after his birthday. Here he stood, beside her, watching the full moon, his arm around her., The moon showed over a waterway, its silver rippling a trail along the wrinkles of the tidal water.

It was chilly, and Evan offered Shelly his jacket. But she shook her head no. He provided all the warmth she needed.

For twenty-four hours Shelly basked in his company. There was laughter and stimulating conversation over dinner.  Shelly marveled at the flow of ideas; they were so effortless and delightful.

"Do you realize what we are looking at, Evan?"  Their eyes met, and they smiled. “We are looking at the same moon together for the first time."

They spent the night in each other's arms.

 She said goodbye to Evan and his friends the next day and returned to her sister's house.

She played with her sister's grandchildren and ate lunch at a waterfront café with her brother- in- law, and he picked up her sister from the dentist and they toured the city.

On Good Friday, she was in the air on her way home. The sun shone, gleaming on the wing, and shined in her heart.

Shelly would never forget Evan and her side by side, looking at that moon.

No wish was needed this time. Just thanking God with gratitude for this precious moment.