The sun went away as darkness set in behind a cover of clouds. The birds stopped singing and the chatter of the people around me hushed. Confused, the coyotes howled. In the following five minutes, the sun seemed to rise as if I was living in a timelapse of dusk and dawn.
This was my experience with the Solar Eclipse of April 2024. My area got so much cloud cover that we didn't see any of the sun. However, it got very cold about half an hour before totality.
Even though the clouds blocked the view of the eclipse, I still enjoyed the day very much. My parents and I went to a barbecue at a family friend's place and got to see some of our friends. It was nice to meet some new people as well. The food that was brought was very good, even though it wasn't what we were used to eating. Someone made very good deviled eggs, there was a sweet tapioca pudding with oranges, and wonderful macaroni salad.
As an English major, I also felt the moment of peace was poetic. I've been very stressed due to various factors out of my control, but standing in the quite managed to shut my brain down long enough to calm all my stress and put me in a better mood for the rest of the day. Everything stopped, the bugs and animals were confused. Everything froze, and I wish I could've stayed in that moment forever. Our friend howled back at the coyotes, which made us all laugh. Some of the people at the party had great comments such as;
"It's like the whole day and night cycle happened before my eyes."
"It makes me feel very small. Imagine how many generations of people before us have gathered to see this moment and had no idea what was even happening."
"What are you guys even taking pictures of?"
Ok, that last one was more to be funny. Some guests were confused as to why some of us were taking pictures to see how dark the moment was, and I think the clouds had a cool pattern.
I attempted to take some pictures, but my Canon camera wasn't having it without a tripod. The video I captured didn't really show the transition from darkness to daylight very well. Here are the best of the blurry pictures I could snap.
The clouds were heavy, but there was no sunlight behind them, creating a calming darkness over the property.
There was an odd sunset in the horizon, as if it were 8PM at 3:30PM.
A picture of me during totality.
A picture of me after totality. I had my mom take these pictures and I did smile, but I started to talk in both of these pictures so I don't look as happy was I was.
And the whole thing was very therapeutic for me. Getting the chance to socialize and be calmed by the experience was amazing. Yes, I wish I'd seen the actual eclipse, but I'm grateful that I was in the path of totality and got the chance to experience something without needing to travel.
I hope you all have a wonderful week,
-Rosetta 💖