I started my yesterday at 4 a.m. On purpose.
Yep, I’m one of them. I hopped into a big empty minivan with two old friends and headed out under a bright winter moon in search of treasures, adventures, and laughs.
It started with our traditional Thanksgiving night of watching my favorite kick-off-the-holiday movie (Christmas Vacation!) and mapping out a shopping plan. Then we grabbed a couple hours of sleep and a hot beverage to-go, and ten hours later, the minivan was full, our Christmas lists were whittled way down, we were all caught up on each other’s latest life events, and I. was. exhausted.
I mean exhausted.
(Note to self: Crazy Target woman is on to something.)
When the kids came home from their dad’s house at five, I was just waking up from a nap and we decided to kick off the holiday with our own movie: 3D style, at the theatre.
We saw Tangled.
Made me smile, giggle, and tear up. I do like fairytales. I know: sappy and unrealistic. But I need a little sappiness and unreal life once in a while. And I appreciate the pictures a good fairytale can give me:
– A strong yet tender girl who believes there is more for her.
– A man racing across the countryside, desperately trying to save a woman he loves.
– A father and mother longing for a daughter who doesn’t know they exist.
– A life-changing connection with another human being, under a moonlit sky.
Do those things happen in real life? Depends what you mean by real life. I think most of those have happened in mine; they just looked a lot different. The fairytale somehow becomes a picture of my one true story—about the pursuit of my own heart.
Sometimes I see images like those, and a very familiar voice says to me: See, Julie? That’s how it is with us.
…
On the drive home from the movie, R-girl spotted a moon so huge, and so red, it could have been from another world.
It was so low on the eastern horizon that we could only see it from the top of a bridge, so we drove in circles for 20 minutes trying to catch another glimpse of it, and possibly also a picture.
By the time we caught up with it, it was smaller, lighter, and higher in the sky. But when I close my eyes, I can still see how amazing it looked in that first small glance.
Here’s to chasing the moon this holiday weekend, however that looks for you.
Enjoy.
by julie rybarczyk
