Dear Ruth: Shalom and full moon rain

Ms. Lovely Ruth!

I feel as if I have not seen you in so long! I suppose I got used to your house being my resting point among my hopping via NYC, Drew, and dance school.

Any who, as you envisioned, I am enjoying CR immensely. :-D The past 24 hours have been extraordinary.

I couldn’t sleep last night for the first time since my arrival to CR. The earth was so still and there was barely a breeze. Somewhere around 3 in the morning began this chorus of wildlife—baying, barking, mooing, meowing and other animals sounds all calling to something unbeknown to me—the voices from the night were too extraordinary to not be out of a Twilight Movie. I got up out of my bed and stepped closer to the window, [but I dared not go any further than this—not out of fear, but out of respect]. Apparently, it was a full moon last night and the wolves, dogs, cats, monkeys, and all the animals near and far literally howled at the moon. I had never witnessed something so unexplainably divine and something so beyond all human theology. Can you imagine?

Somewhere after lectures and running to and fro meetings, I got caught in the rain and I must say, to get caught in the rain in the rain forest is unlike getting caught in the rain anywhere else on the planet. To say that the sky opens up and bottomless buckets of continual rain pour out for an infinite amount of minutes is an understatement. It smells like heaven afterwards. These are the times where I wish human understanding would upgrade its language to a more universal conversation. What if… Can you imagine?

Now, I’m not saying we should all go howling at the moon, but perhaps we could cease our worries of a bad hair day for the sake of a dance in the rain, or simply leave rain be for the development of future generations. Or perhaps we could try upgrading our language to bridge gaps—not out of fear, but out of respect.

Ah well, this is a rather random blog, but perhaps full moons, the animal kingdom, lectures, and rainforests have something in common.

Either way, I miss you my dear friend, sister, teacher, and Rabbi. Until we meet again, may you continue to bring Shalom to those under your wing.