Miss Adventures

When my twins were little, I used to tell them stories all the time. When they were three, their favorite was the one about how the sun loved the moon so much, he died every night just to let  her breathe. They would say to me...

"Tell me the story about how the Sun loved the Moon so much he died every night just to let her breath." This was a story my children asked me to tell for many years. This is how I told it, even if they don't remember....

And this is how that story goes....

Once upon a time, during a time when the earth was simple, the Sun shone brighter then anything. The people were grateful and rejoiced every time the Sun shone. He brought them joy and warmth, he was the source of their warmth, happiness and harvest.

But he was lonely, all by himself in the vast skies. He would look down at the people dancing in his radiance and wonder if he was simply destined to a life of solitude. He reasoned unto himself, that his loneliness was the price he paid for being the brightest thing in the Universe. 

Then, there was the Moon. As the Sun grew weary and began to disappear, she would rise into the sky, flanked by millions of stars. Her radiance was a sad kind of beauty, one that often went unnoticed as the people slept. The Stars watched her with wish-fullness, hoping that one day they could get close enough to her so she wouldn't feel so empty. But they couldn't. She simply wouldn't allow it. The moon knew her place. 

The Moon was untouchable, surrounding herself with a blanket of darkness through the cold nights. 

Until one day, the Sun was sliding out of the heavens...he caught a glimpse of the moon in her unspoken, humble radiance, surrounded by stars she wouldn't allow anywhere near her. She was peeking up, a rare side of her being exposed to the light...glowing. And, while the Sun could shine, he knew the Moon could glow in such an amazing way. He thought, "A faithful whisper trumped an arrogant shout any day."

So just as the Stars were wandering into the night, the Sun fell hopelessly in love with the moon. And, like a snowball hurdling down a mountain, he knew he hate found his mate. He wished desperately to see her more than the few fleeting moments that he did when he shared with at dawn and dusk. 

But the Moon was untouchable. 

Uncurable. Unfreeable. 

And the moon simply would not have it. 

The moon knew her place. 

Even though the moon loved him far more than she loved herself, after she had glimpses of him, even after she heard the soft whispers in the night of the people she watched over who longed for the sun, the moon would not move. 

"Go," she whispered to him, her voice as sweet and sorrowful as the last light of morning, "Go and let me breathe, for you and I have decided fates. You illuminate the day, and I cast a glow on the night. We will never be. Our connection would go against what all the people believe, all they know." 

That was the first time the sun hid. The first eclipse. 

Because his heart was broken. 

So the world fell into a temporary darkness. 

And the people wept. 

So did the moon. 

And that was also the first full moon ever....because she lit herself up in the sky, shining...looking for her love, the Sun....unable to find him. 

Soon after, he came out of hiding and the Moon breathed a sigh of relief. She knew the people they both diligently watched over would be alright. 

Then? 

The moon hid. 

She fled to hide her broken heart. 

That was the first lunar eclipse. 

And the people wept. 

Because they missed that nocturnal light in the sky. 

So the Moon quickly returned. 

But the Sun and Moon were still no match for one another. 

The Sun chased her...and she fled. 

For centuries. 

Yet, each summer he would stay a little longer in the sky, just in case she would change her mind. 

She didn't. She hasn't. She might never.  

He follows her still in the silent skies of fog that echo a broken heart. In the rain. In dawn. In dusk. In each eclipse when they celebrate the anniversaries of their first broken hearts. His only task is to illuminate her to make her even more beautiful than what she ever was than the moment he first noticed her in the sky. 

When she is full, he gives her the brightest glow before sunset....because he still loves her so much; because he doesn't want her to feel lost and alone. Because he wants the world to see her glow the way that he does. 

But the Moon is cold. The moon is responsible. The moon yields to no one. For the Moon has her own things to do. 

Which is why this story is so tragic. 

Because, you see, the sun loves the moon so much that each night he dies to let her breathe, because the moon just doesn't know any other way....because we mere mortals need them both. So the moon? The moon had to end it all. And she did so by telling the Sun the last few words she could ever muster before falling silent. 

The last words the moon was ever strong enough to say to the sun were, "Don't you dare abandon your blessing of your light for my darkness. Because light should never succumb to darkness, and I simply will not let it. You, Sun, have too much joy to give to the world, your purpose is happiness. My purpose is simply to illuminate the night, as best I can...to guide the stars home as they burn out. Your purpose is far greater, because your light is more powerful than my own. You bring joy to the day, you bring hope, beginnings and wistfulness. People look forward to seeing you. You light the sky with love. I just light up the night to carry lost souls home, and am the place that lost souls look to when they can't sleep. I am the darkness from when the Reaper takes souls, I am the the cover for thieves in the night, I am the mask for insecurities and doubts, the partner from the torture they face when you set until you rise once more. And, unlike you, I hide in an eclipse, far more often than you, because I simply cannot witness anymore pain in this world. Four times a year, I turn red, covered in blood, there are halos around me. I suffer the burdens of all mankind that you can easily burn away. That is my destiny, and I will not impose that upon you. You are too beautiful for that. You have the power to give mankind more than what they dream possible, I have the responsibility to take the brunt of the burden for them, to control the tides, to bring storms. I am destruction. You are hope. You are freedom. I am night. You are day. Those things can't mesh but in the twilight, which is why we can never be. And that is our fate."

Yet, still, the Moon chases the Sun and the Sun chases the moon, because the truest of love never dies. And never will. No matter how many centuries it takes. 

And such is the dance. 

The end. 

Much love,
Miss Adventures