I don’t have much to say about the solar eclipse because it’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like it. I had a reaction I didn’t quite anticipate.
Though I don’t live in the path of totality and wasn’t dedicated enough to travel to see it in its full glory, it was truly a sight to behold (through the protective shield of eclipse glasses, of course). It made me weirdly emotional. There was beauty and awe in the phenomenon itself; more than that, there was wonder in considering how an unfathomable number of people had, like me, paused whatever they were doing to collectively take it in. On how many occasions do we stop to witness, in the same moment, something so incredible?
That’s it, really. All I’ll add is that it seems appropriate that this eclipse fell smack dab in the middle of my appreciate-the-universe phase, which is still novel to me. I’ve been seeing things in an entirely new light in recent months; right now, I’m writing in the light of a sped-up daybreak that I wouldn’t believe possible if I weren’t observing it with my own eyes.
De Morbo Sacro: Life and/with Epilepsy 