In the words of Leonard Nimoy, “A solar eclipse, the cosmic ballet goes on.”
In case none of you readers have paid attention at all, a solar eclipse was visible across the United States on Monday, with Western New York right in the path of totality. If by chance the stories in this newspaper did not let you know all the preparations happening, surely all the lit-up highway signs and specialty eclipse merchandise from places like Wegmans and Niagara Falls State Park gave it away.
This event was always going to be a big deal, despite what some of my co-workers felt. It is a rare chance to experience a phenomena beyond our planet into the wider universe. One best experienced in the company of others, not necessarily a few thousand others but I doubt they are complaining.
Me, I took the less stressful eclipse viewing route and watched it from my backyard. I already drive half an hour to and from work every day worrying about getting caught in traffic there, so I would be just fine catching any updates on X or Facebook or watching PBS coverage.
Being 30 years old, the only eclipse I remember happening in the U.S. was in the summer of 2017. Not because it passed through this part of the country which it did not, but because the image I always remember from it was Donald Trump looking straight at the sum without any protection.
My mother was way ahead in the game of getting the good kind of eclipse glasses, ones that come from Astronomy Magazine. Ones with reflective-silver-looking lenses that block out everything in view. And ones I am sure I saw worn by background extras in some ‘80s sci-fi movies.
Yes, it was cold and cloudy where I was too. It’s spring so what else is new? Enough sunbeams were coming through to tell where the sun was and what to look for before clearing in time to catch a glance of the partial totality starting.
The clouds still kept coming in and out, blocking my view and having me wonder if totality would be no better than this cloud cover. Despite other people in my complex clearly being home, only a few of them also came out to get a view.
With one fleeting glimpse of the moon reducing the sun to a crescent, it disappeared behind the clouds again. Right on cue, the darkness spread despite the continued cloud cover. I was worried there would be no difference, but it might as well have been midnight.
Animal-wise, there were only two geese walking around, not thinking any better of this convenience. We could at least see the returning light approaching through the cloud cover, seeing another brief glimpse of totality end before going back inside to finish this column.
Now that it’s over and we can all say we saw a solar eclipse happen, we can only hope something else comes along to take up this much of our time.