The gift of awe and wonder

And an adventure that was as perfect as it could be

How do I begin to describe what I’ve seen? To explain the madness that now grips me? That seeing a total solar eclipse did not sate my obsession but only intensified my hunger for totality.

I have every intention of becoming an eclipse chaser. I will now call myself an “umbraphile,” a chaser of eclipses, a shadow lover.

This makes almost no rational sense. I traveled 300 miles by car to witness my first total solar eclipse. To see another before I am decades older or dead, I will have to travel farther. By air. Across oceans. To lands unvisited.

I cannot foresee the logistics. We are not a family of disposable income. In two years, the next time totality will cross the earth our oldest will be off to college. We have jobs that pay the bills. Chasing totality feels like a flight of fancy. A ridiculous dream.

And yet.

I cannot deny the effect this phenomenon has had on me. How does one go “back to normal” after witnessing such a cosmic event?

I told you some things about my prep for this even…