A Very Inspiring Totality Story

Hi Everyone- I hope you're having a great end to 2023. 

I have shared this link with many of you; although some of you may be seeing this for the first time.

I strongly encourage you to read this, if you have not already:

https://suburbanturmoil.com/how-a-total-solar-eclipse-will-rock-your-world/2017/08/26/

This blogger, Lindsay Ferrier, experienced the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.

I have read many reports of total solar eclipses in my 30 years of being into astronomy, and this, in my opinion is one of the most inspiring.

Here's why:

Notice how she gives no indication that she was interested in astronomy or eclipses before this. She may have a general fascination with space, but there's no indication she is an astronomer, has a telescope or anything like that.

Also notice how she was excited at first, then her excitement turned to worry (see the "eclipse panic" link in the story). She was concerned: is it going to be worth all the traffic and crowds?

But she decided to go anyway.

Then, when the eclipse was happening, she was skeptical that it was going to be as spectacular as had been predicted: "Yet even though totality was just a few minutes away,  it was still clearly daylight up on our hill. “I don’t believe it’s going to happen,” my daughter said beside me, as if she could read my thoughts. “I know what you mean,” I agreed. Was all the hype we’d heard about totality unfounded? Had I wasted hours of planning time for what could best be described as ‘a dim day?’"

Soon after, the eclipse went into totality for her and her family.

You can read her reaction:

"Although my camera was rolling throughout totality, I wasn’t paying any attention at all to what I was shooting. I was literally overcome, laughing and crying at once and repeatedly hugging both my children. I have tears in my eyes now, just thinking about it. If you were one of the millions of people who experienced totality on Monday, I have a feeling you know exactly the rush of emotions that I’m talking about. Totality is an experience you truly never, ever forget."

As a parent, this quote gets to me:

“I can’t believe I just had a moment I’ll remember the rest of my life,” my son said as we walked, gently squeezing my hand. I looked down at him and grinned. My heart was full."

This eclipse is for EVERYONE. You don't have to be into astronomy or photography or anything like that. 

If you've experienced a partial eclipse before, and you think that previous eclipse experience was neat and interesting but not worth driving hundreds of miles to repeat- that is true.

But this is a TOTAL solar eclipse (if you go to the totality path!), and it's different than any solar eclipse experience that you've ever had. COMPLETELY different.

Do you want to have an experience like Lindsay? Get to the totality path between the red lines:

https://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html

You'll never forget it.

P.S. I'll have more inspring stories and videos from other people who have experienced total solar eclipses - please follow this blog for more!