Our little town in Ohio was in the path of the total eclipse! Even more miraculous was that the weather inexplicably cooperated perfectly; something it’s not historically known for. The sky was hazy but not cloudy, which made it bearable to sit on the blacktop of our driveway with a few friends to view the event, some of whom had made the trip from Washington DC to see it. It was last minute, so we didn’t give too much thought of where to set up. The trees made it less desirable to sit in the yard so driveway it is. And sidewalk chalk was available so I made a cartoon to mark the occasion on the pavement. A smiling sun being approached by a menacing moon with the date and time.
For the first half hour, as the eclipse began it was hard to tell if something was happening if you didn’t have your approved eclipse paper glasses, which seem to have flooded the area recently. Even the town chief of police drove by with a handful in case we needed some. We live next to the district elementary school and I thought there would be a crowd in the parking lot, or I hoped there might be for the time lapse video I was shooting from my studio window (seen in another post here on Substack). It would add a bit of interest as they came and went but there were just a handful. The traffic was increasing noticeably in recent weeks as folks were coming into the area from all over. It got crazy just before and right after with jams popping up where they never would be otherwise, even out here in the rural areas.
Then it began to get dim. The light was strange and it got harder to see. The wispy clouds to the west were growing dark and menacing as if a storm was approaching. It was the shadow coming. Then the eclipse neared completion and darkness began to fall fast; birds began their evening songs which differ from their morning versions that we would be hearing just three minutes later after an eerie quiet period in which we could see stars and the amazing total eclipse, corona glowing around a spooky black moon. The town siren went off as it hit and people cheered, fireworks went off, cameras took photos that would be instantly uploaded in millions of facie-tweets, jamming the internet bandwidths of the Great Lakes/Midwest region.
It was night during day. It got cooler. The breeze stopped and it felt as if we were inside something, contained in a moment in time, all of us, together, witnessing something extraordinary that we would most likely never see again. That didn’t last very long; quickly the light returned and we were back in day time. I wanted to do it again! It was a cool place to be! I know now why people want to travel to see eclipses, wherever and whenever they might be. It is a special place to be and it makes you feel things that are special and a little strange, like no other experience there is. You look at other folks differently afterward, as if you share something in common with them. It makes you closer to people you don’t even know and you both feel it when you look at each other as you pass on the street. Everyone should experience that at some point in their life for a bit of useful perspective.
The show ended all too soon for us and the light came back in a rush at first and then slowed until midday returned totally within fifteen to twenty minutes. It was as if we had lived two days in one. It felt like a brand new day! No doubt the birds and other creatures who count their days by the sun and moon felt the same way. It’s a workout having two days in one and I hit the sack earlier than usual but I also mowed the lawn for the first time this year so that probably played a role too. All that sitting in the sun added to the tired feeling I’m sure. We’re still not acclimated to it after a winter of not seeing it very much. I hope I can catch another total eclipse again in the future, but if I don’t it won’t be a big thing because I have definitely seen one. And I took a video!
