Have you ever observed the harvest moon in all its ‘glory’ rise in the eastern night sky. If you were up at 11:48 p.m. on Oct. 6, you would have seen a spectacular view.
This celestial body appears larger than a regular full moon and is a beautiful sight. This orb of night normally rises each year in September mostly, but sometimes in October or November. Historically, it provided light for the farmers to gather their crops.
My first introduction to a Harvest moon occurred in the fall of 1965 when the Antietam-Dargan Ruritan Club decided to have a hayride for local youth in Frog Hollow.
As the weather was cool that year, I dressed warmly in jeans and a flannel shirt and went to the Ruritan building in the Hollow.
I remember vividly standing by the stove in the corner sipping on a Coca Cola in one of those 6 ½-ounce glass bottles.
Suddenly, this girl Susan came up to me, and said, “You see that girl over there in the corner?” I replied yes. “She wants to go on the hayride with you.”
Seemed like a nice surprise to me as she was a beauty with black curly hair. It was Sheila Knight who lived up in Antietam. I think she was 14 or 15 at the time. I was 17.
A tractor was hooked up to a hay wagon, and we loaded up and headed up and down the road through Frog Hollow. It was a nice slow ride, and everyone on the wagon enjoyed it including a young Ms. Knight and yours truly.
I remember the moon especially that night because it was very big, the hay was very comforting and the hugs and snuggles were over the top. After we had some snacks and drinks, I bid Sheila good night.
That harvest moon and hayride was the very beginning of a long and lasting relationship with Sheila. We enjoyed each other’s company throughout school. Afterward I went off to the Army and Vietnam before returning home a few years later in 1968.
Sheila’s friendship lasted throughout. Upon returning from Vietnam in 1968, Sheila had turned 17, and we decided to get married with the approval of her parents on Dec. 21, 1968, the first day of winter.
I took her out of high school in 1969, and she went along with me to Fort Lee, Virginia, for my final year of active duty. I assured Principal Newton of Boonsboro High that I would make sure she got the three classes she needed for graduation in night school.
Sheila graduated from Boonsboro High in June 1969. Our daughter, Amy, was born at Kenner Army Hospital on Aug. 4th.
On Christmas Eve of that year, I began my 34-year career in corrections at the Maryland Correctional Institution, rising to the position of warden for the last 16 years.
Sheila and I remained a happy couple from that hayride journey under the harvest moon for the next 55 years until July 2023 when she went to look for that moon at Heaven’s gate.
The world has not been the same since she left. We had a good and happy life, but dementia is a terrible disease.
When a companion leaves, it often appears that the sand of the hourglass becomes foggy as the remaining spouse searches for direction but always seems lost.
And then, as if by magic, someone comes along to brighten your day. I’ve had such an experience.
A lady, who very well understands grief herself, appeared on my path. She is a most beautiful and kind soul who has recently lost the love of her life also.
As the harvest moon came by this year, I invited her on a date. Where we going, she asked.
“I’d like to take you to a cemetery,” I said.
She smiled. “I’ve never been on a date to a cemetery,” she replied and accepted my invitation.
As the large harvest moon was moving upward in the eastern sky on a dark night, we sat in the large and quiet gazebo on top of the hill at the Samples Manor Cemetery overlooking a church and valley below.
Weary souls reside there. If you listen closely, you can hear them whisper.
A most beautiful and untroubled place.
The wind was blowing; it was cool like 1965; and the moon was big. The lady’s presence comforted me, and I believe I comforted her.
Tis something very strange about a harvest moon.
Have you ever looked up?
It almost seems like a porch light from heaven.
To be continued….
