Reflections of The Solar Eclipse
Past reflections on the solar eclipse
I remember growing up with an underlying fear of solar eclipses. I decided early on that I wasn’t really interested…as I decided about most things I was afraid of. I think it had to do with not quite understanding what it all meant. I knew that you had to wear special glasses or make special devices to view it without damaging your eyes. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to resist looking head on, that I would be too tempted by the unusual light, that this cosmic event wouldn’t let me look away, and I would be forever changed. Many years later, as a 31 year old woman, I discovered that some of my previous fears were true: I would be forever changed, but I would not lose my sight after all.
Solar eclipse experience in 2024
On April 8, 2024, I was given the opportunity to face the thing I once feared. The totality of this great cosmic event was set to happen right over our backyard. At this point in our lives, we had been seeking, chasing, and discovering the wonders of the world around us for years after starting Go There Do that. This moment came at a time in our lives when huge changes had occurred, and we were clearly being asked to slow down, evaluate, and make sure we weren’t being eclipsed by work or trials moving forward. To be a bit less vague, we were less than a year out from my husband, Ethan, losing his mother to cancer and a little over a month out from him leaving his full time job. We were very unsure of what our future would look like, though, we were stubbornly hopeful. The hope felt justified as we realized the solar eclipse was coming right to us at a time when we weren’t sure about future travel plans or the future of Go There Do That as we adjusted to freelance life. It felt like a gift to have this phenomenon come to us where we were, like we were being looked after and encouraged to not lose the awe seeking nature in ourselves that we had discovered.
Although we were able to see the totality from our backyard, we decided to load the van up with our camera gear and drive a few blocks down to the retention pond in our neighborhood. Here, we would have a better view of the sun in our suburban neighborhood, and we thought we might have a better chance of seeing how wildlife reacted to the eclipse, which is what most interested me. We parked, set up our camping chairs, and waited.
There came a time, as if instinctually, that we found ourselves rising from our seats, like standing for an anticipated bride. As the moon began to cover the sun, I caught my thoughts wondering back to the worry that I wouldn’t be able to contain myself and would take an accidental peak at the sun before it was safe. I pressed my glasses tightly to my face and lifted my chin up defiantly at my anxious, fluttering thoughts. They soon passed as the moon moved more into focus. I was pulled in and took my glasses off. My thoughts shifted to disbelief. Obviously, I had read about what happens during an eclipse, seen photos, but seeing it with my own eyes felt like a new groove in my brain was actively forming. Darkness overcame light, and the world quieted and slowed. The streetlights flickered on, the crickets began chirping, and the birds left the sky. I felt myself consumed with emotion as the experience washed over me and settled into my heart. A once in a lifetime experience had just occurred. For a moment, the sun and the moon pulled us away from ourselves, and it forever changed me.
Present reflections on the 2026 solar eclipse
Though I will not see it for myself, a solar eclipse comes today. The moon will stand fully in the light, casting her great shadow upon us. Day becomes night. All reason is lost in a great moment of wonder.
I have been lucky enough to see this phenomenon with my own eyes, to hold the experience in my heart and soul. She does this now over the land that has been ravished by the magnificent beauty of the solar maximum for years. As the sun quiets, she comes as a reminder of the magic and mystery that lives on despite all of the words and formulas that we possess to explain everything.
The explanation makes it no less of an immensely powerful expression of the beautiful dance between our sun and moon. With us at the center, lovingly placed at the perfect coordinates to experience the most miraculous wonder in our solar system, life.
Today, the doors to endless possibilities open. For a moment, nothing makes sense. And it is unfathomably beautiful. Use this door to open your heart and mind to all that can be. And please step through.
With love to my dear sun, moon and self,
Heather
