Howl At the Moon

Did you see the moon tonight? Didn’t it look amazing? I’ve always loved a full moon. It makes me think of tides, femininity, chocolate, werewolves. There’s something about it that just makes me want to howl.

The moon made me remember that the best experiences, the best stories, the best memories are created when you do something outside your comfort zone. A few years ago (ten, cough cough) I created some of my best memories while I was backpacking in Utah during college. It was through Sierra Institute, a program where an instructor took a group of students out backpacking for two months and offered classes in the wilderness.

Our group had about 12 people, plus the instructor and teaching assistant. That’s a pretty small group of people, so you can imagine we got quite comfortable with each other. Usually we went to bed as soon as the sun went down. I mean, what are you going to do after dark with no electricity in the wilderness? Your options are pretty limited.

Except on the night of the full moon we all stayed up. We found a flat bit of dirt outside and we lay in a circle with our heads all together in the middle and our feet facing outward, like petals on a flower.

The stars and the moon were incredible that night. We lay there quietly in awe, absorbing the moment, saturating in starlight.

I can’t remember who howled first. I think it was Abe. He howled at the moon like a wolf, long and loud. A few moments later someone else howled. Then we each took turns howling. Then, like a song, howling in chords. Then all of us — a chorus of howls, smiling and laughing and howling at the moon. We lay there howling for minutes. Then just laying there howling as the urge struck, comfortable and comforted laying under a deep, dark, warm sky surrounded by the bodies of friends.

Do it. You know you want to.

“To buy a cake… to howl at the moon… to know true happiness… I am happy.” ― C. JoyBell C. (Tweet it!)