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Eclipse

There was a partial eclipse back in college that I somehow missed hearing about until it was happening.  I stepped out of the Humanities building and it was dark even though it was the middle of the day.  I knew enough not to look directly at the sun (okay, I probably didn’t know enough but I’m sure a smarter student shouted that out), and we sort of just walked home, not thinking too deeply that we were witnessing a moment in history.

We decided not to travel to the totality zone for tomorrow’s eclipse.  The closest spot is far enough away that we had to weigh out how much it meant to us to see it.  Instead we’ll remain in the partial zone, tossing on our eclipse glasses in the afternoon so we can stare directly at the sun.

Do I want to see a total eclipse?  Sure.  Do I want to see a total eclipse enough that I would be totally okay if we traveled to South Carolina and missed the eclipse because it was cloudy and raining but we got to spend time with other eclipse enthusiasts?  Nope.  Asking myself that helped me to put into perspective what I was willing to do to witness a total eclipse, and it wasn’t drive 8 hours.

Still social media (and, to be fair, the regular media) has a way of fomenting FOMO over these sorts of things.  It’s as if Twitter is collectively asking in the most incredulous tone, “What do you mean you gave up the chance to see the totality?”  And Facebook is rubbing it in your face: “Look at me!  I am loving on this eclipse so hard!”  And Instagram is like, “Look at these aspirational eclipse glasses that I made out of recycled pallets and mason jars.”

So I’m trying to be okay with it tomorrow.  I’ll see what I can see.

Are you doing anything for the eclipse?  Are you in the totality zone?

17 comments

1 TasIVFer { 08.20.17 at 7:30 am }

I’m in the wrong hemisphere! I once saw a total eclipse in the South Pacific on a cruise ship. That was cool. But partiality is cool too – and happens more frequently. I’ve also seen a partial eclipse at sunset – it was lovely.

2 Charlotte { 08.20.17 at 7:49 am }

Ha. So this is so fitting. I tend to not follow along with news/social media and get sucked into the FOMO, mainstream stuff. My husband has been yammering on about this eclipse for weeks now, and I didn’t pay much attention when he was commenting about special glasses to view it. I bought he was buying into the hype (like he tends to do) and also, this has happened before and I do t remember a fuss being made.
That being said, I was talking to my sister, who lives in a state that is in the Totality zone, and she asked if I had my glasses, and I was like “Not you too! WTH!) and then finally looked it up and then was all “so these 3-D looking glasses are going to save my retinas???” And my husband was like I have been telling you about this for weeks, but not until YOUR SISTER says something do you take it seriously.
And of course you can’t order the glasses now…but I did find the damn things for $8!! a pair at a local hardware store that I had to wait in line for an hour for.
I hope this is not going to amount to a big
Whomp-Whomp and is actually worth all the damn hype.

3 a { 08.20.17 at 8:07 am }

It is 97% where we live, so of course I will be driving 30 minutes to get the full eclipse! My friend drove 5 hours down to spend the weekend, and it’s cracking me up that she keeps saying how cheap everything is here. I all “We haven’t even gotten to the free stuff yet!” My daughter even did something to her mouth appliance so I have a legitimate excuse for pulling her out of school (and the orthdontist appointment is at 10, so it’s convenient too – 3 hours before the total eclipse). Meanwhile, my husband’s response is “yawn.” I’m excited. And it had better not be cloudy!

4 Jodi { 08.20.17 at 8:09 am }

My husband and son actually went to see the total eclipse. I stayed home. So that’s REALLY making a choice to stay home.

5 Amanda { 08.20.17 at 9:42 am }

I live almost on the line. We will get almost the max duration of totality and all I have to do is walk out my front door… But it looks like it’s going to be cloudy and maybe rainy, so there’s not much to be done about that. So maybe be glad you didn’t spend tons of money like the thousands of visitors in town for a pretty disappointing eclipse.

6 Amanda { 08.20.17 at 10:17 am }

Oh, and I didn’t mean for that to sound so flip… Just a lot of disappointment around here right now.

7 Working mom of 2 { 08.20.17 at 11:37 am }

Eh. A couple people from work took elaborate trips to see it. If we were closer I could see driving a little. But there’d be crowds.

Even though we’re not near the line our school has NASA glasses and is doing a thing. But it may be cloudy here.

8 ANDMom { 08.20.17 at 11:54 am }

I think we’re going to get about 70% here. I kept waffling about buying glasses and by the time I decided to they were gone anyways. So we built some pinhole viewers out of cardboard and we’ll alternate between watching the live stream and checking it out ourselves on our deck.

Meantime, there’s another one in 2024 and totality will be about 6 hours from us in several directions. So we’ve already talked about how we might make the drive for that one and I set a google reminder to tell me to get glasses 3 months beforehand!

9 loribeth { 08.20.17 at 12:20 pm }

I think we’re at about 70% here as well. We don’t get any direct sun in our condo, so I think we will just watch on TV & watch the sky darken from our balcony. There was a total eclipse in February 1979, when I was in Grade 12 in high school, and the Canadian Prairie town where we lived at the time was right in the total zone. We had the day off school (so that watching or not would be our parents’ problem/responsibility). My sister, mom & I watched on TV & went outside for a brief glimpse when we were told it was safe to do so. So I have had that experience already. 🙂 The streetlights all came on, and it was kind of cool!

10 Jess { 08.20.17 at 12:46 pm }

Ha! We’re at 71% in Rochester. I forgot to get the glasses (and I’m sure they’re all sold out now) so I’m either going to make one of those pinhole viewers or just see things dim out and try real hard not to blind myself. I was at the tail end of high school for the last one, and apparently (although I’m not sure on my sources) we’ll be in totality for a 2024 eclipse. So we can FOMO everyone else then, ha. I wouldn’t travel either, although I found out there’s a Total Eclipse Cruise with Bonnie Tyler singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” during the event, and that sounds strangely appealing (but not enough to go). Definitely a different experience when you can so readily hear about other people’s experiences. Enjoy the partial as much as you can, knowing another one is coming (sooner than I thought, too!). 😉 And don’t accidentally go blind. That would be bad.

11 Lori Lavender Luz { 08.20.17 at 1:37 pm }

We’re at 92% totality here, which is easily enough to keep me from heading (along with scads of other people clogging the highways) to Casper, WY to see Totality.

I’ll be with the students at my school, trying to keep each of them from going blind (we don’t have glasses to provide.)

I must admit I’m excited about it.

12 torthuil { 08.20.17 at 2:36 pm }

No and no lol. I will be in my doctors appointment at ten and I’m thinking the partial eclipse might happen as I’m leaving, so I’ll experience it then. I think it is happening at about 1030 but I’m not even sure, that’s how much I care. I’m more interested in my dr appointment because the fact I’m pregnant is more incredible than an eclipse. I figure things will get sort dark and it will be weird and that’s about it.

13 Sara { 08.20.17 at 11:00 pm }

98% where I live. I am a science teacher but my school district cancelled school due to safety concerns. My kids have school, my husband has to work he will be in totality, my parents are traveling about an hour south for 100% totality. I am 38 weeks pregnant hoping I do not go into labor when there will probably be lots of traffic in our area and family will not be close. My plan is to get some more work done around the house, run a few errands before it starts and go outside a few times throughout the event. My friend cancelled our plans to see it together at my house so I am a little bummed about that.

14 Chris { 08.20.17 at 11:56 pm }

I remember having to watcj the 1979 one at school. It interfered with reading and i still hold a grudge about that. Lol i take reading seriously. Here in California I’m not sure what percent we are because i just have no interest. I’ll watch it get dark and keep in working. My hisband will stream it I’m sure.

15 Beth { 08.21.17 at 10:26 am }

We are not in path of totality. I have our eclipse glasses but I’m not feeling hugely in to it. I’ll take the girls outside to watch but the end of summer blues are hitting me. It’s funny that, because I never considered driving to somewhere else, it hadn’t occurred to me till this weekend that it could rain or be cloudy. Hm.

16 nonsequiturchica { 08.21.17 at 5:08 pm }

I had to work but was watching NASA’s link for the southern part of IL right before, during, and right after totality. It was cloudy here in Chicago so nothing to see here.

17 Alexicographer { 08.22.17 at 3:06 pm }

We went, and that involved an overnight stay about an hour’s drive from the path of totality and 2 hours from our home; we then drove another ~3 hours to the viewing spot we ended up at, which was not one clearly planned in advance, but rather something we found day-of based on vague meanderings and some general awareness that cloudiness would be lower if we drove west-ish. In all honesty, it was great — well worth it and something I’m very glad we did. Clearly we were lucky, we did find a cloud-free place from which to view, and one that we were very happy with (very quiet, no one else around). And my husband and son were great to travel with and it was a fun shared experience. That said, it did take us ~8 hours to drive home, a drive that would usually have taken about 4, and the drive was not pleasant. Though it wasn’t hugely unpleasant, either — I mean, it was mile upon mile of stop-and-go traffic, but also clearly our doing (we had chosen to go to the path of totality and horrid traffic was a foreseeable problem), the weather was fine (we weren’t navigating through dreadful rain, fog, or ice), we were in a comfortable, air conditioned car, and without exception, the other drivers were considerate – at least, those near us. But for those (like Mel) coming from still further away, of course the drive would have been yet worse (if I ever do this again I will try to arrange to stay over the night AFTER the eclipse), and while we lucked out on the weather there were of course no guarantees or certainty. So yes, I’m glad we did it but also grateful that the conditions made it possible for us to see it as we had hoped they might.

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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