Judging by the number of eclipse related posts on social media over the past few days and, especially, today, it appears that the Williams family wasn’t the only one to take a few hours off from usual activities today just to… enjoy the eclipse.
Much of Ohio, including our town, was right in the path of totality, so the only thing we needed to do to prepare was obtain eclipse glasses. Well, and snacks. Every good party requires snacks.
So how was it? Well, the eclipse was rather impressive. But then it was also rather fun to have an excuse for a small family back yard party. Or front yard party, as we saw on several front lawns in our neighborhood. Or the neighborhood park down the street, which had a number of people with lawn chairs, just hanging out for a few hours. Or the downtown, which was closed off since morning for car traffic, and was prepared with vendors offering moon pies and beverages.
More than anything else, I am convinced, the eclipse mania shows our desire for celebrations. We all love a good party, an occasion to celebrate an extra holiday that we didn’t know existed. An extraordinary day on what is normally just an ordinary day—just a regular Monday in April—feels like an extra gift.
We feel like we deserve the usual weekends and holidays in the calendar, and so we take them for granted. But this, this was over and beyond—an extra day from school for the local kids, for instance, and most classes canceled at the university this afternoon.
And it was fun. Now it’s over, and my husband has to get back to routine—indeed, he will teach his evening seminar in an hour. And that’s okay. It turns out that even a small gift that you didn’t expect is wonderfully welcome.