Why Singing the Moon?

Singing the Moon...


An explanation.

Every family has their own language. We all have our inside jokes, our favorite stories.. the things that remind us that we do love each other, and why. To me, these things are almost sacred. Singing the moon is one of those sweet, secret phrases in my family's language. It is one of my two favorites (the other being, "I love you the whole world" if you were wondering).

It started with me singing Meron to sleep every night. She didn't sleep. I mean... seriously didn't sleep. Right after Meron came home, there was a time period of several months in which it took us about 2 hours to get her to fall asleep. She would sing, talk, wiggle, pull her ears, scratch herself and physically hold her eyes open to stay awake. I would hold her and sing lullabies, always starting with a song that Ernie sang on Sesame Street:



"Oh, I'd like to visit the moon, on a rocket ship high in the air.

Yes, I'd like to visit the moon, but I don't think I'd like to stay there.

I would like to look down at the earth from above, but I'd miss all the places and people I love.

So although I might like it for one afternoon, I don't want to live on the moon..."



I remember being so tired that I couldn't remember any words but those. I'd sing them over and over for hours before Meron would finally collapse in exhaustion. I'd carefully lay her down, tip toe out of her room and go downstairs to relax. Then, twenty to thirty minutes later, she'd wake up screaming and we'd start the whole process over again. It was awful. I knew she was scared. She had decided that she liked us and was scared that we wouldn't be there when she woke up.

After a while, as soon as I started singing she would relax. She knew I was there. She knew it was safe. She knew I loved her. Things slowly got better. We added new songs to our bedtime repertoire. Hana and Malakai came home, and they learned our songs and our family language.

Now, whenever things are sad or scary or lonely, they ask for me to comfort them the same way Meron started to as soon as she learned to talk- "Can you sing me the moon, mama?" And they know I am here, that their world is safe, and that I love them.