Celestial event puts everything in perspective

Total solar eclipse leaves us in awe

It wasn’t my first time. I’m not an eclipse virgin. I’ve totally been there and done that, back in 2017, and I wrote about it on these pages of newsprint. Still, I was giddy.

I checked weather forecasts and read articles about the upcoming celestial event. Our new-to-us little town of Mountain View planned many festivities throughout the weekend since it was in the center of the path of totality. We were told to expect tens of thousands of people to descend on our streets.

Trapper John was mildly enthused. Unlike me, he doesn’t own a NASA tank top, t-shirt and socks. He didn’t write to the space program in the 1980s; collect crew patches of Challenger, Atlantis and Columbia; or enjoy perusing the shuttle schematics. But even he knew this was an event not to be missed, if for nothing more than to appease his space-geeked wife.

And he didn’t have to go far to appease. He merely had to step out our front door.

I’m not sure tens of thousands of people came. The streets were busy, but no more so than during the Folk Festival or Outhouse Races. Bands played throughout the day on the courthouse square, surrounded by dancing cowboys, award-winning food trucks, and vendors with eclipse merchandise.

Some restaurants complained they were slow and didn’t reach their normal revenue for an average weekend. Other stores said they ordered products based on the numbers they were told to expect, and they lost money on the deal. A few people criticized event planners, saying the crowds had been hyped and it made folks stay home rather than fight the mobs.

Maybe so. But as the moon began to make its trek in front of the sun, one and all – young, old, pessimist, optimist, city slicker and country bumpkin alike – shut up and looked up, mouths ajar, in awe.

As totality approached, the band stopped playing. The birds stopped singing. The complainers stopped complaining. For over four minutes, there was a quiet collective harmony as everyone gazed into an unclouded sky and watched the sun disappear.

As the air cooled and nighttime fell, people prayed, laughed, wiped tears, hugged, got goosebumps, and nodded wide-eyed looks of wonder at strangers in their vicinity.Man can disappoint. But the world is bigger than man, and every now and then, we get a reminder of it. The clouds didn’t know they were predicted to overcast our view. The stars didn’t realize they were supposed to remain unseen. The sun didn’t care if patrons were wearing merch or had eaten at the local café. The world spun without our help.

“I won’t see another one of these in my lifetime,” said our beloved friend sitting beside us. Well into his 80s, my fellow spacegeeked comrade traveled alone 7 hours to witness the event. “Isn’t it marvelous?”

Yes, it is. Life, in all its flaws and frailties, is marvelous. Totally.