Solar Eclipse

As a little girl, I remember reading about solar eclipses. I remember reading about the one 18 years ago, reading about the kids in Brazil getting to see it. I remember reading that you had to have protection over your eyes to see it. That fascinated me. I had always wanted to see one. Well, last night, I finally got to.

It was a couple of weeks ago when I read that the solar eclipse was going to happen on the 20th of May. Mentally I marked that day. Vowed not to forget. Well, last night, I was at my in-laws house and we were just talking. The date was brought up. "What was so special about May 20?" I kept thinking to myself. Then it came to me. The Solar Eclipse.

My sister-in-law and I looked up when it would start, (about 3 minutes from when I remembered. Close call.) that it was only going to be a partial eclipse. I couldn't remember if we needed protection, so me, being the brave soul, went outside to check. It was around 7:20 and it was so bright. I squinted at the direction of the sun and it hurt my eyes so badly! My eyes continued to hurt throughout the evening. We were trying to figure out a way to view the eclipse, when my blessed father-in-law spoke "I have a welding helmet in the shed." I ran outside. I was not going to miss this.

I think I was more excited than my nephew. I will admit, I was acting like a little girl. But come on, the last one was 18 years ago. We looked at it at the beginning of the eclipse and then set an alarm for 10 minutes to go check again. It went over the horizon around 8:30, but we checked till that time. At one point a cloud threatened to cover up the sun for the rest of the evening, but it left after 10 minutes.

This was such an amazing experience for me. Now I will have to view a total eclipse. We weren't able to take pictures, the sun was too bright even through the helmet. But I don't think I could forget it. So cool!