Eclipse

Yesterday millions of people watched the solar eclipse and I was one of them. I was able to get eclipse glasses on Saturday which was a miracle in itself. Joining the eclipse fervor was a decision I made reluctantly. No big deal right? After all Colorado was at 95% coverage and not a total eclipse. After deciding it was indeed a big deal for me, I had to fit viewing the eclipse into my work schedule. As part of my job I go to Senior Housing Apartments monthly to do blood pressure checks so I decided to take a look before I went inside. It was 11 o’clock and the sun was about 1/3 covered. I was excited, this was real, not “fake news”. Apparently Mother Earth, our solar system and the Universe deal in Truth.

Edna was waiting for me, as usual. She knows the day I am coming and has only missed once in the year I have been doing the checks. Ironically she was in the hospital due to issues with high blood pressure! I make sure I do an accurate reading because I know how important it is to Edna’s health. I let her know that I had eclipse glasses and asked if she would like to take a look and her face lit up. So we went outside to see what the eclipse looked like, she was amazed that she could really see the sun being covered by the moon. It was better than T.V. she thought. As each of my regulars showed up for their blood pressure readings we took a trip outside and I shared my glasses so we both could see the eclipse. Soon we had quite the crowd! Another pair of glasses and a welders mask were shared by residents joining us, and the postman did the pinhole viewing. A home health care worker, the director of the building and the pop delivery guy borrowed glasses to take a look. The “old”ladies, me and assorted visitors got to witness a force much greater than us and there was a quiet reverence.

And then it was over and the group disbanded and it was back to normal. I’d like to think that I helped fellow humans to feel awe. There was a bit of doubt as everyone took their turn with the glasses , but all saw the eclipse as it happened and no one was disappointed. Most of us were pretty sure that we would not be alive to see the next eclipse, so we did not intend to miss this one. And we didn’t.