Back in December, I procured three pairs of eclipse glasses online, in preparation for the (partial) solar eclipse that happened this past Monday.
It just so happened that the day of the eclipse was also my son’s last day of Pre-K. I sent one pair to school with him, in the hopes that his teacher would be willing to let him look at the eclipse during or after naptime; I brought one pair with me to work; and I left one pair at home for my husband.
Around 2pm, I headed outside.
I texted my husband at home, who also donned his eclipse glasses.
As it turned out, my son also got to check out the eclipse at Pre-K. Not only that, but he insisted on sharing his glasses with his classmates and teachers, so everyone got to enjoy the eclipse!
Alas, I didn’t have my photography equipment with me (and I didn’t have a proper filter for eclipse photography, anyway), and putting the eclipse glasses in front of my iPhone camera just didn’t cut it. But! One of the videos I took of my view of the eclipse had a bonus eclipse-shaped lens flare at the end.
Even though I wasn’t in the path of totality, that was still WAY cool to see.
Come April 2024, for the next solar eclipse in America, my city will be in the path of totality — and my son will be finishing up sixth grade, if I’ve done my math right. Unless I make plans to pick him up from school, or his Junior High has an after-school eclipse-viewing party, chances are that he’d be on the bus on the way home during totality. One way or another, though, he’ll see it… and I’ll send him to school with the same eclipse glasses he took to his Pre-K class so many years before.