Meanwhile, since the eclipse...

 This sassy little miss turned 2 -

how is that even possible?

All I know is that she's added joy to every day! 

 

She and her brother are high points of every day!

All the grandparenting tropes you hear are true!

 

My quilt top has been completed, returned;

and I LOVE it!

 

Spring continues to unfold

and my 'garden', 

my poor neglected, it used to be beautiful, once upon a time garden,

continues to gift me with beauty every day.

 

While I was being diagnosed and treated for skin cancer

 - on my knee of all ridiculous places-,

before the stitches had even healed,

Arizona's Supreme Court upheld legislation from 1864 -

when it was a territory, not a state,

when women couldn't vote, 

slavery was still a thing

and white men were still solely in charge -

forbidding women from having ANY agency 

when it comes to their bodies, reproductive freedoms

or ability to determine appropriate healthcare for themselves.

 

Short of that, I'll be in Columbia this weekend, 

knocking on doors,

canvassing and collecting signatures on the petition 

for a state constitutional amendment

which would guarantee women the right to make their damn healthcare decisions.

 

Srsly... can't believe we have to do this AGAIN!

Like every 50 years or so, 

we have to convince men that we're fully human and should be empowered

with the right to make our own decisions about our own bodies!? WTF!

 

In a totally unexpected fluke,

I was privileged to be interviewed by Humans of St Louis;

find out why on their Instagram page.

If I'm not arrested for arson this weekend,

I'll limp back here soon!

 

In the meantime:

Resist the Patriarchy

and remember sunscreen!

 

What a powerful experience

In 2017, during the previous Path of Totality,

I was still working at the hospital.

(And, yes, it does feel like that long ago!)

We watched as we could, in between answering pagers and taking phone calls,

and, while I remember it as being "out of the ordinary", is was, ultimately,

just a welcomed interruption in a day of the usual chaos. 

This time felt decidedly different;

not only because it will be my last eclipse,

but because as I get closer to the final mystery (death)

glimpses of natural, uncontrollable, breathtaking events 

interest me more.

A few posts ago, I mentioned that we scored the perfect setting for our viewing -

an art museum with trails and sculpture gardens, 

a lake, food trucks, a band and

clean bathrooms!

So, we drove 75" east and south to join a 'sold out' crowd of 200.

(Many thanks to Cedarhurst staff 

for realizing how many people 

your grounds can accommodate

without ruining the ambience of the experience.)

 

Some folks just couldn't resist the cosplay opportunities 

an eclipse provides

and, since it was my friends birthday, 

we pretended it was all a celebration of her

and went with the flow.

Group conversations, the band music etc kept up at a usual pace,

until about halfway through the eclipse.

As the light faded, conversations grew softer, in more hushed tones,

the band ceased their playing and

people settled in place, 

with glasses/eyes turned skyward.

The whole setting seemed muted and more serene.

As totality was achieved, you heard the occasional "Oh my God",

but generally there was 4 minutes of near total silence.

As the moon passed by and the light of the sun was returning, 

there were pockets of muffled clapping or cheers from the kids but,

by and large, the adults were still in a reverential space.

It occurred to me what a truly remarkable event this was:

not only did millions of people believe what scientists predicted,

they took time out of their lives 

and traveled to get to the best spot to see something so extraordinary.

Nobody was arguing that it wasn't going to happen, 

nobody falling down a rabbit hole 

that the moon would collide with the sun and destroy the earth;

no one postulating that this was a hoax of the deep state

or "put on" for the benefit of one political party or the other.

In the heart of rural America,

millions of people demonstrated a faith in science

and wanted to experience something with their friends or families

 that was beyond their control; 

something that was a reminder that human beings 

are an extremely small part of something infinitely larger

than ourselves.

The lake before, during, at totality and as the light was returning.

Many of my thoughts from that day have stayed with me.

I'm SO grateful to have had the chance to experience it 

in the manner and place I did.