Imaginary Friend

         

         People come and go... yet the moon always stays. 

                        "At 12 years old I stared bleeding with the moon." ~ Andrea Gibson

Andrea Gibson is completely correct. When I was 12, the moon made me bleed. At first, I was curious, I wanted to start bleeding, I wanted to know what it would feel like to bleed without feeling any sort of pain. Shortly after, I became familiar with the pain of menstrual cramps, and decided that if I was going to bleed, I'd rather fall down and scrape my knee. 

At 13, I liked to go into the backyard at night, lay in the grass, and gaze at the moon. Even though the sun warms the Earth and gives me a great tan, I've always liked the moon better. It's mysterious, dark, and sexual, and I've always liked that. 

At 14, my best friend lived down the street from me. Once in a while, she would call me upset late at night and ask me to come to her house. I'd sneak out my window, and go comfort her. We would take blankets and climb to the top of her roof and gaze at the moon. One particular time, she admitted to me that she was sexually abused by her Father during the day, while her Mother was at work. She said whenever it occurred, she would sit by herself and gaze at the moon, and it would comfort her. That was the first time I ever realized that the moon could comfort a human. 

At 15, I learned that the moon could comfort myself as well. I was going through many changes with my family, my Father had remarried and I was adapting to life with a step family. The first year was hard and awkward, and I was miserable all the time. I wanted things to go back to the way they were a year earlier. One night I got into a fight with my step mom. I didn't feel like dealing with it, so I went for a little walk by myself. I didn't make it very far when I collapsed and started sobbing. There were very few times when I had felt so lonely. I prayed that things would get better, and even though I didn't receive any Revelations from God, I looked to the moon and I was comforted. It made me realize that just like my step family, it was there for good, so I decided to make the best of things. 

At 16, I learned that the moon came with much sin. In high school, people were changing, instead of doing mischievous things like egging houses in large groups, people were smoke pot and do sexual favors instead. It made me feel uncomfortable, especially the drugs. I saw that people were transforming into people who didn't have bright futures, and I realized that it wasn't a type of lifestyle worth living. 

Now, at 17, I've learned to appreciate the moon in a way that I never had. It's a symbol of strength, mystery, and will never end. As a human species, things will change, and relationships will end, but the entire human existence can always count on the moon.