Eclipse 2024

For the 2024 eclipse, Lisa and I traveled back to Indy. My childhood home happened to be fully in the path of totality, so of course it was the obvious place to be. The whole thing could hardly have been better. Weather was perfect, and warm. We set up chairs in the cul-de-sac and all the neighbors joined us. It was a lovely little party.

Experiencing an eclipse is extremely hard to put into words, and we're all probably a bit tired of hearing about it by now. We watched the light turn silver. Through our glasses, we could see the moon creeping slowly across the sun. Then, with shocking speed, considering how long it takes to get from 0 to 99% totality, the light drops to late evening darkness. There's a 360° sunset-like horizon surrounding you, pink and orange and purple. The temperature cools like ten degrees or more. You can then look up at the sun where it's this creepy, flaming black circle. Much bigger than you expect it to be because what you're looking at is the full moon, not the sun. It's so so so bizarre to see with your own eyes. Unreal. A thousand years ago, any witnesses to this would absolutely believe something mystical and demonic was happening.

And then, 4+ minutes later, it's over. The sunlight comes sliding back as quickly as it had disappeared. It's likely I'll never chance to see another one, so I'm glad I put the effort into this one, to experience it with Lisa, my brother, and my parents.

I took some photos, but not many. At least, none of them ended up matching our experience. I made a conscious decision to be off my phone, to pay attention to the eclipse itself, and not lining up shots. That was the right decision.