Full Moon Comfort
Since moving to Missouri, I’ve made many trips back to Buffalo to visit my family, probably as many as twenty in the first seven-and-a-half years. Three of those trips were by air, but the rest have been by car. The trip is only nine hundred miles, one-way, a distance easily covered in a day, and I don’t mind the drive. Driving also makes it easier to make a stop near Cleveland to visit my son and his family.
Bonnie still works, but I’m retired, so I have a lot more flexibility when it comes to travel time. It’s always nice to have company on the drive, but I don’t mind driving solo. I can cover the total distance in daylight, except when winter brings darkness in the early morning and evening hours. There have been a few times when I’ve had the moon for a companion.
With travel restrictions due to the pandemic, I haven’t made that trip since December. I’ve missed opportunities to see my granddaughter in Cleveland, who will be two years old in November. I’ve not seen my daughter since before she learned she is expecting her first child in November, and I don’t know when I will be able to hold her daughter. I’d say it’s down to once in a Blue moon, but even those seem more frequent.
thoughts of family
in search of consolation
full moon appears twice
This is my response to Haibun Monday 9/28/20: to the Moon!,
the prompt from Frank Tassone at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
Image: Harvest Moon, 29 September 2012
rivrvlogr 
I feel the call of the road and the heat is finally getting a little easier to take. Soon. BUT there is still the plague and all its dangers. Be careful.
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Thank you, Daniel. Missouri is on New York’s travel-ban-list. Upon arrival, I’d have to self-quarantine for two weeks, something I could do only in a home with food delivered and no contact with those residents. I’d effectively be placing my son into quarantine as well, so I won’t be traveling any time soon.
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a lovely way to express your grief of separation! Blue moons maybe more frequent but hang in there …
Long road trips bring many opportunities
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Thank you. I keep hoping.
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many are having this struggle … I had two dear friends have their first grandchild born during lockdown! Can’t imagine their frustration at not being able to hold that special little person ..
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Hope you’ll get to see your family soon, Ken. It’s hard! (I miss my grandkids too, and didn’t get to visit my 101 year old aunt before she passed, because of the restrictions.) Hopefully a year from now the pandemic will be in our rear view mirror. Along with some other things…!
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Thank you, Betty.
Big smile at losing those other things, especially the big orange one.
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Yes, definitely! 😄
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The sorrow of a full Moon witnessed without family. I feel the pathos of your haibun!
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Thank you, Frank.
When I moved here, I knew I could keep the connection with travel. I never expected something totally out of my control to have such a negative impact.
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Yup, I do miss our road trips, but the downside is life and death; quite sobering and restrictive. I grew up in WA, but lived in CA for a decade. LA is 1275 miles from Seattle. With two drivers it can be done in a day. Alone I’d drive 800, and hit a motel.
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We tend to make allowances for what we hold important in life.
Thanks, Glenn
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I learned a lot about you in this haibun, Ken, especially those family connections and contact unable to happen. Those are milestones that won’t return. Hoping you’re able to at least visit via videochat. Not perfect but much better than just phone calls. I really hope the rearview comes soon. Heard they are starting a trial of a vaccine in UK and here (same vaccine) in the next couple of weeks. I heard one of the developers on NPR talking about it recently.
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Thank you, Lisa.
This has been a trial I can’t wait to end.
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You’re welcome.
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I can relate to your Haibun Ken. Being separated from the family and especially grandkids is torturous. Mine are in the same town but we see each other far less than we used to because of the virus. I hope you get to see your granddaughter soon.
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Thank you, Christine. The distance may not have changed, but the separation feels greater.
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Yes how true. I wonder if it will ever be the same again. One day I hope, when we have a vaccine 😢
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Despite my considerably more distanced familial relationships (and being child-free), I was moved by this piece, as was My Beloved Sandra, to whom I read it aloud. Great work; thanks.
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Thank you, Ron.
And thanks, especially for sharing.
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You capture the sadness and isolation of these times well in your haiku. The uncertainty comes through powerfully.
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Thank you, Suzanne. I know there are many dealing with separation in these times.
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This line, “I’d say it’s down to once in a Blue moon, but even those seem more frequent,” is sad but notable and beautiful.
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Thank you. 🙂
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Hopefully a vaccine will put this all to rest soon. I can only imagine how much you must miss your grand child. Hang in there Ken.
Pat
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Thank you, Pat. One day at a time.
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I feel this too. My first grandchild was born in July. One day we will see her in person. But the moon looks down on us all.
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Yes, there’s comfort in knowing it’s the same moon.
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This is so moving. Being apart is difficult and that too during the global pandemic. My prayers are with you! 💝
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Thank you, Sanaa. 🙂
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Beautiful words. Nicely done.
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Thank you. 🙂
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The separation from those we love is the hardest part of the pandemic I think. The full moon gives some solace, but not enough. (K)
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Amen. There’s no true consolation.
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I love traveling under a full moon. It’s so hard not to be able to visit loved ones during this time (sigh).
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It’s a comfort knowing the same moon waits at both ends of the trip. Having it along the way is an added bonus.
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This is honest, touching, and full of love Ken. I truly enjoyed reading it. What I would like to know is, how have you managed to keep your drivers license — because you must be really rolling? 😉
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Thanks, Rob.
Hit-and-run at the DMV. 😉
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This is a beautiful haibun: thank you for sharing these recollections of family visits, and happy news about your daughter’s pregnancy: I hope you get to meet your new granddaughter soon, and be reunited with the rest of your family. I had to laugh at ‘only 900 miles.’ When we first moved to London, I was 300 miles from my family home, and we used to make the drive regularly but it still seemed a long one only for a weekend visit. Well, now I’m over 900 miles away from home and several countries plus the channel lie between. I too hope it won’t be too long before I see my family again!
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Thank yo, Ingrid. I’ve done this for a weekend twice, which actually was 4 days, counting the round-trip. I usually plan on a minimum of a 5-day stay.
Should Missouri be removed from New York State’s travel restrictions before Christmas, I’ll definitely make the trip.
Meanwhile, fingers crossed, that we both see our families next year.
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It’s so painful not being able to visit family during this pandemic. I have managed to visit my daughter and grandson twice this year and have to keep telling myself it’s only this year, next year things will be different, but we don’t know if they will. You have filled your haibun with love and care, Ken. The distances people drive and fly across the US are so much longer than the ones we have in the UK, but it’s the expectation and longing that make a journey special, and the moon for a companion. I love the haiku and measuring time by the full moon.
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Thank you, Kim. The moon seldom fails to give comfort.
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900 miles easily covered in a day! Nobody here would consider half that distance easy! Your roads and vehicles are adapted to a huge country.
The haibun had a placid flow, like a big river. It tells us life is what it is, and some things we just have to accept.
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Accept, even though I wish it were 9 miles. 🙂 Thank you, Jane.
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🙂
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This one broke my heart …… so many of us suffering the ache of not holding our loved ones close.
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Thank you, Helen. There still are not enough people who take this pandemic seriously, and until they do everyone suffers.
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So much happiness held at bay, yet waiting to be taken hold of one day, soon, like a blue moon. Very movingly written, Ken, and I do pray the restrictions will be lifted soon so that you can hold your family in your arms again.
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Thank you, Dora. I’ve read that the fact that people in the US refuse to wear masks is in line with the world’s view of Americans as narcissists. Until that changes, this will be drawn out.
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Oh I know the feeling… no way we should travel these days… I am stuck where I am…
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Mad Max isn’t too far off! 😉
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Poignant, Ken. We’ve yet to see our older daughter’s house in western Massachusetts. When they moved in, things were so uncertain with my mom that I didn’t want to be gone–and now with the pandemic, we’re not going into anyone’s house. Our younger daughter lives in our area, and we’ve seen her, but still don’t touch or go into her house.
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Thank you, Merril.
The world has been upended.
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Yes. 😔
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We used to travel 800 miles a day when the kids were little. Not bad. As grandparents we usually made a 1200 mile trip yo see the kids in one swoop. A very nice post.
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Thank you.
New plan – If Missouri’s 7-day rolling average of positivity rate (currently 15.3%) falls below Ohio’s travel ban threshold (which is 15%) at the end of October, I can travel to Ohio, stay with my son’s family for 14 days (and see that granddaughter), and then go to NY where I can stay with another son so that I can visit my daughter and her newborn.
Fingers crossed.
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