Allison is a wonderful young woman who has been cutting and styling Cheryl’s hair for some time. She had been operating out of a salon on the second floor of a business front in our old neighborhood for some time. Many years ago when Cheryl had foot surgery I asked her if she could come to our house and do Cheryl’s hair while she was stuck in a chair waiting for her foot to heal. Allison said of course she could. She had several clients that she took care of at their house.

Cheryl visited her in the salon for a couple years after her foot healed but eventually it became too much – the stairs. I asked Allison if she would visit us on a regular basis and a new relationship of service started.

As Allison was getting ready to leave and I handed her a check she said let’s set up a date for here next hair visit. I got out the calendar of all knowledge and we looked at August dates. Weeks-wise the next date would be August 23rd but that date interfered with something for her son Paulo. She suggested either August 30th or September 1st. I picked August 30th.

August 30 is the anniversary of the day we met. It was August thirtieth of 1966. It was a blue moon. Cheryl remembers that. I would to report to you that I remember it succinctly but I would be lying or at least making up stories about my youth. She remembers that it was a full moon. That fact caused me to look up astrological data to find out it was a blue moon. It is a blue moon this year too. I told Allison the story of our meeting.

After Allison left Cheryl talked about her death, something that every human is able to imagine. Cheryl said to me, “She is such a nice young woman. She didn’t mention that I won’t be here then.”

I replied, “What do you mean by that?”

She said, “I will be dead by then.”

I sat down to have a conversation but I was too dumbstruck to speak for a minute. I wanted to know where that thought had come from. She did not have an answer but she was adamant about it. “I’ll be here in spirit”, she said. (Wow. I thought.)

I don’t know what to make of that idea that she has or had for that moment in time this morning. What I do know is that I will be more alert to her needs for the next few weeks.

Carpe – blue moon – Diem.