Typically when my husband and I take a trip or attend an event, I like lots of lead time. I like to plan, research, draft an itinerary if necessary, sketch out every last detail. So when I saw an announcement of a full moon lighthouse climb only a day or two before the event, I thought, oh well. Maybe we’ll catch the next one.
Then I stopped and asked, why? Will the world stop spinning if we just go and don’t know every tiny piece of information first? So I mentioned it to my husband, and he was excited about it. That settled it: we were going!
Last night we stopped for a quick dinner and then headed out to the lighthouse. A band was playing, and a bonfire was snapping and crackling in the darkness. I went first up the lighthouse steps, and at first we were joking and talking, my husband slapping my butt playfully, but after what seemed like a million steep steps, we got a lot quieter, and I was wondering if we would ever reach the top!
We kept circling, winding our way up one step at a time. Someone had written “halfway there” on the wall, and then further up had added the note “Almost there!” The steps got even tinier and narrower, then finally, we were at the top.
There’s no describing the view from the top of that lighthouse. The full moon was glowing proudly, reflecting on the water in the distance, a silvery glint on the treetops. It was beautiful and peaceful.
My husband stood beside me silently, then reached for my hand on the railing. We were still out of breath from the climb, but it was very worth it. I felt dizzy from the height, and the walkway was extremely narrow, so we were standing practically on the edge by necessity. I’m not a fan of heights, but I didn’t want to leave, either. It was all too pretty.
From the top, we could see the glow of the bonfire, and we could see people walking around on the ground, so tiny. The circling light from the lighthouse danced across treetops. We could see the shimmer of the water, which looked like it was floating above the thick trees from that height.
On our way home from the lighthouse, my husband got excited about the big, bright moon reflecting off the water, so we pulled over and walked down to the beach. We stood together and enjoyed the beauty of the view, and we induldged in a few kisses (how could we not, in that setting?)
I admit I’ve been planning our summer trips since the fall, but now I feel inspired to maybe add just a few more spontaneous, “let’s-just-do-this” kind of things, too. When we look back over our lives together, years and years from now, I like the idea of being able to say, “Remember when we stood in the full moon at the top of a lighthouse?”
*Photo credit: Wrightsville Beach Full Moon Fever, taken by Lee Capps
Sweat & Sparkle 