Tales from the Moon

"Use it!" Moon demands after I've poured him a "Jager."

[A funny drink order (I think) because most of the men his age who come into the bar ask for things like a "highball" or some flavor of liquor "up" or "neat."]

Moon not only asks for Jagermeifter, he asks for it by its nickname as if he is one of those young clubber/bar hoppers.

::

Moon sips his "Jager."  He savors the mouthful and sets the rocks glass down - exactly in the space it left before it hit his lips.. circling the glass over the watermark on the bar left from when he picked up the piece.  Once he is sure it is secure in its original resting place, he lets go and turns his attention back to me...

"Use it!" He spurts.

"What shall I use?" I ask.

[The bartender in me tries to ask with some enthusiasm; however, the skeptic in me is not quite sure where he is going with his interjection and I am a bit unsettled about where this burst may lead...]

Again, Moon looks at his rocks glass. He carefully focuses on the piece and steadily lifts it, again, to his mouth, takes another sip, and returns the glass to its original resting place. [His precision mimics the focus and discipline of a serviceman - up the gig line - down the gig line...]

Moon lets go of his glass and his eyes return to mine. He takes a moment and seems to settle into another time and place. He tells me of the property I currently own and how it was a candy shop where all the "kids" went before heading across the alley to the dance hall (now a vacant lot on the Northwest corner of College Avenue and Thurman Alley.)

The candy store is where Moon's father first spotted his love interest.  And at the dance hall, they met and later fell in love.  And that is how Moon and his siblings came to be...

[Aside - I love to hear the stories of my "new" home from the old timers... how it shaped their lives, how it fell into disarray, how my renovation efforts remind them of the old times... it makes the painful renovation effort worth it!]

"There she is!" Moon reenacts. "There's my golden apple!" [as his father points to a woman who has caught his eye while exclaiming to his friends] "I'm going to marry her someday!" Moon's father kept to his words exclaimed in that dance hall and married his "golden apple" and the rest is indeed, history.

Moon's father died early and his mother stayed on as his widow, until she passed at the age of 106. For her 100th birthday, the family started with a dinner at Sokolowski's University Inn, her favorite food spot. The rest of the celebration was spent in New York City, where she walked with her family to sites and neighborhoods that she hadn't seen since she was a young girl. The kids cried when mom waved, feverishly, at the Statue of Liberty.

Moon's mother was born in Poland in 1898 and immigrated to the States. She landed in New York City, as did so many others. Her fate took her not only to Cleveland, but to Tremont. The pretty lady met a handsome man in the late 10s of the early 1900's in that old dance hall which is now my neighbor's empty lot.

Moon's mother "saw" three centuries... 1800s, 1900s, 2000s and the majority of her life was spent in our neighborhood, Tremont. Her children subsequently gathered in the store I now call my own and it shaped all of their lives.

"Use it!" He says again after telling me this beautiful story of his mother, her influence, the neighborhood, family and relationships.

When I ask him again, "Use what?" He quietly points, with a crooked finger and a slow arm and says "Here," [pointing to his head] and "Here," [pointing to his heart.]

"Use it every day!" He says. "I'm old, but don't think I don't see you kids with your pagers, and your phones, and your computers every day. I see you with your rush and importance and your need to buy things, but I see your big loneliness."

"Practice tomorrow... use this [again points to head] and use this [again points to heart] and tell the people around you that you care. Take only a day at a time and practice... and before you know it, twenty beautiful years will go by and you will find that the beauty is in the longevity which is the beauty of love and forgiveness, in yourself and in those around you. None of us are perfect, but we all can love and forgive... use it! Practice the use! Stop the other madness - go back to using your heart and your head!"

"And then?" I asked [expecting some other great insight...]

"Then??!!" He asked with HUGE aggitation... "THEN!!!???... YOU PASS it ON!!!  He YELLS!

YOU make OTHER people USE IT! DON'T be SELFISH and we'll ALL be BETTER off! PASS IT ON AND TELL THOSE AFTER YOU!!!" YELLS Moon!

At which he grabbed my hand and held it for quite a few minutes as he settled down. In the background, Ohio State was losing horribly in the final bowl game.  As the crowd around us maddended about the outcome of a college football game... it only seemed to emphasize Moon's point.

Moon held onto my hand and his lingering hold seemed to say thank you for listening yet at the same time solidly restated the wisdom he just offered... yet without using words.

After a bit, Moon left, leaving me a little more satisfied with... well... everything and everyone around me. Moon defined life's importances and paradoxes for me in a simple manner... smaller is bigger and bigger is smaller; all we can really have to hope for is love and when you find it you have to work at it every day - we can't plan anything, we only have today, so make the most of the people around us, and...

"Use it!"