Those of us who live primarily in C'ville had just about resigned ourselves to the fact that the one family member who spends a bunch of time in Oberlin was going to get a front row seat to a REALLY COOL total eclipse and the rest of us would have a very meh experience, being fairly far from the totality... but then a series of events (both fortunate and misfortunate?) including the slightly ahead of schedule purchasing of the car that would later be named Aggie (i think?) but somehow is still just called Ru, a dance class performance, a former colleague/teacher bestie of mine having a day off AND a place to for me to stay in Cleveland, and some general churn in the universe made it so I got to be in Oberlin with Z for said REALLY COOL eclipse.
I'm usually pretty good with the words and the writing (though this particular blog post may not be a shining example), but I am definitely at a loss for how to describe the eclipse. I mean, superficially things got dark in the middle of the day - we were outside in Tappan Square and all of the street lights started to come on - but also things got SUPER quiet. The birds and all of the other nature noises just, like, ceased. And I was just standing there with Z, holding hands, and the incredible awe and amazement at the universe was just entirely overwhleming, like bring tears to your eyes beauty and wonder. I was surprised by how emotional it was, and how connected I felt. And how unbelievably grateful I was to share it with the small human being I helped bring into the world, who is taller than I am now. It was a lot, sandwiched into a few days filled with other "a lots".
So we took it in for however long the totality lasted, which seemed fleeting but also vast, and then the sun started coming back, and the birds started chirping, and the dance picked up again and we were returned into the rest of life.
