A Whale Called Moon

I want to tell you about Moon. 

This is a sad story—one that has stayed on my mind since I heard it. 

Moon was a humpback whale that lived off the coast of British Columbia in the summer, Maui in the winter. 

She was a smart whale! 

Beautiful places to live. 

The Pacific Whale Foundation has been tracking Moon since 2008. Cetologists (in my words, whaleologists) identify whales by their unique tail flukes. So they could keep abreast of what Moon was doing because they knew where she was.

The sad part of the story is that this year, they saw an unusual s-curve in Moon’s body. 

At first, they thought it was scoliosis. But in the end, they determined she was hit by a 30-60 foot-boat going 20-30 knots.

And it broke her spine. 

Researchers from BC Whales could see from drone footage that Moon could no longer swim like a normal whale. 

Whales swim by their tail oscillating their body up and down in the water. But Moon’s back was now curved. Her tail was essentially immobile. 

Moon could swim only using her flippers. 

But as much pain as she was probably in, once winter came, Moon followed her usual migration, swimming from B.C. all the way to Hawaii. 

That’s 3,000 miles.

Using just her pectoral fins. 

Now, a flipper of a whale is not a small thing. They might be up to 5 meters long. But Moon’s body was 40 tons. And she couldn’t use her tail at all. 

One would think it’s impossible for a whale to travel 3,000 miles with just their flippers. 

Cetologists were shocked to see drone footage of Moon a half mile off Olowalu, Maui. By the time she arrived, she was emaciated and covered in whale lice.

But for whatever reason, Moon had still prevailed. 

She did what whales do that time of year, which is find their way to the warm waters and breeding/feeding grounds of Maui.

But now Moon hasn’t been seen since December. And when they last saw her, they saw she was being followed by sharks. 

Moon’s story makes me sad every time I think of it. But even as I sit with in the grief of this story, Moon inspires me. 

Have you ever been broken, and you still went on? 

Have you ever felt cut down at the knees, and yet still find your way to move forward?

I was broken when I had to leave an unhealthy marriage. 

I was broken when my mother left the planet.

I was broken when my father fell on ice and ended up losing his ability to walk and 
communicate.

I am broken every time a dear friend experiences a major loss. A debilitating illness. The death of a child. The ending of a relationship.

When have you been broken, and still you moved on? 

Perhaps just last year.

Or perhaps it’s right now. 

The other day, I was telling my boss about Moon and her incredible journey. And he said,  “Sounds like when a consultant falls flat on her face in the middle of the night in New York City and yet still gets on the plane to fly to Texas to do her work.” 

Ha. 

Yep, that was me. But I don’t feel like I’m anything like Moon. 

I would have given up halfway to Hawaii.

I’m trying my best to be spiritually brave. 

I imagine humpbacks are out there in the Pacific singing sad songs about Moon. They said 
there were times it appeared another whale was accompanying her on her long journey.

But I like to think they are also singing some songs of possibility. 

Trying to help us move on.

According to Trudy Goodman, a psychotherapist and Buddhist mindfulness and meditation teacher, “Spiritual bravery [is] the willingness to see and accept all of who we are. It’s the willingness to be stripped of our fixed, rigid ideas of how our life is supposed to be, and instead open up to a much wider view of the self as part of the great mysterious flow of life. Mating, birthing, living, aging, dying, each breath we take—it’s all part of belonging to nature, right here, right now.”

Maybe, in some small way, we all belong to Moon. Even as we sit with the cause of an accident that is ours as humans to bear.

I hope I have a tiny fraction of Moon inside me. 

Of her grit and determination that brought her all the way to Maui.

Perhaps some days you can connect with the part of her that is in you too. 

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