Eclipse! Oh, Drat!!
- mrsgoessolo
- Mar 29
- 2 min read
A few years back around Christmas time, I remember a friend telling me she no longer wanted to buy things. She was going to get her girls experiences, things they could do together. They saw Beyonce that year. And every year since, they do something.
Which got me to thinking about traveling, and how I have known for a while full well that I no longer want to buy things when I went places. I tried Christmas ornaments and magnets for a while (and thus have quite the collections!), rather than T shirts (which I almost never wear). But it seems like, more and more, even these kinds of souvenirs are not made locally.
Souvenir is a French word, and it means to remember. Which is what I am wanting to do when I try to bring home a piece of a place to which I have traveled. I want to remember, to hold onto what it was like to be there. To keep a piece of the experience.
So now I look for interesting things to do when I go places. I plan my days around finding local yarn shops or visiting a park or a café. Sometimes, I pick a theme (like pastries or ice cream or flowers or street signs). Sometimes I have no plan, which is a plan in and of itself. I simply wander. And I take LOTS of photos (thank God for digital cameras!!).
Today, March 29, 2025, there was a partial solar eclipse at 6:44 am here on the east coast. I have recently become fascinated with this phenomenon. It only started in April of 2024, when there was much excitement over a total eclipse (yet another post to come).
This morning was not a total eclipse, but its timing was unusual – right at sunrise. As the moon set and the sun rose, their paths would collide and the shadow of the moon would pass over the sun. It’s called a double sunrise – where the moon’s shadow makes the sun look like it has two horns. Now, that’s an experience!
So, I woke up and got out of bed early this morning. If I was gone to do this, it was not going to be uncaffeinated. Made a Dunkin’ run and headed to the beach. It was a lovely sunrise. Not spectacular by any means, but lovely.
The problem is that lovely sunrises are made by clouds. And clouds obscure the sun. And eclipses. Drat!
But, it was still an experience. One I can learn from. About making plans and being flexible. About finding joy in what is right in front of me rather than focusing on what I am missing. And about the experience of time spent with a good friend, which eclipses any disappointment I may have felt in nature this morning.
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