The Soft Glow of Moonlight

 The Soft Glow of Moonlight
As I awoke from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. And as I glanced out my window, I noticed the bright moonlight reflecting on the snow drifts covering my back yard. The silver coating shone on the surface and shadows huddled beneath the trees. It reminded me of another time when I was captured by the beauty of full moon. I’d just graduated from high school and was driving home at the end of an afternoon shift working in the toolroomof the Walworth Valve Company in South Greensburg, Pennsylvania. There was nothing special about the drive or the night until I saw the old weathered gray barn. I’d noticed the barn hundreds of times before. There was never anything to make it memorable, until that night. That old barn in the snow was transformed in the moonlight to become something extremely beautiful and very memorable
For some reason the old weathered boards of the barn reflected the bright moonlight. The rough wooden sides glowed like polished silver. The same moonlight caressed the snow covered roof giving it a vibrant almost electric blue crown. The barn was built on the side of a hill. It was surrounded by more snow and the once weary-looking barn became a silver island surrounded by a sea of blue snow. I slowed to see it more clearly as I drove past, wishing I had a camera.
I drove past the barn recently, but the magic was gone. The metal roof had streaks of orange rust and someone had painted the sides of theweathered barn with white paint and red trim. It caused me to think, if the roof had been bare and the sides had been painted white back then, would I still have a precious memory or would I have just driven by ignoring the old barn?