Eric and Susan were slow dancing in the middle of the coffee house the first time I ever heard “Harvest Moon.” It seemed kind of strange because Eric was a big, hairy dude and Susan was a lesbian. Actually, with the exception of the top of his head, Eric is still a very hairy dude. Susan is still a lesbian, which is not so remarkable except in contrast to so many of the other women we knew who dated women in college. The strange thing was that Eric always seemed to be “on the make” as it were. Always working on getting a date or getting another date.
There was no way he was going to date Susan, but there they were dancing. The melody was beautiful in its simplicity, which I reckon is one of Neil Young’s things. This also happened to be late October, so it was round about the Harvest Moon, if not right after. Watching them sway back and forth, it seemed like they were in a completely different world. They could have cared less about what was going on over at the counter or that Pepi was sitting in a corner naked.
The vision was sweet and the lyrics about a love that has stood the test of time enveloped the dancers. Neil Young had never really done it for me before (being more of a Skynard man myself) but he had me wanting to be in that scene in a way I had never experienced before. Getting in the scene was another matter given that I was still a year or so away from having the frontal cortex capable of understanding what that might take.
Not that it’s obvious now what I need to do to be a good man for my Sweet Lady. But come tomorrow afternoon, we will have been married 10 years. The Harvest Moon was high the night of our wedding. Every year when it comes back to ask how things are going. That’s about the time I remember again how lucky I am to be in this scene. There is nobody I’ve ever danced with like my Sweet Lady. And I am still in love with her on this Harvest Moon.