For her first total solar eclipse, Michele stood beside Willow Bay with eclipse tourists from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, District of Columbia and even North Dakota.
Skies were overcast and threatening until just minutes before the moon’s shadow began to encroach upon our view of the sun. The clouds parted; the crowd cheered in unison; we and our tourist-guests were rewarded with a picture-perfect eclipse. (For those of us with inferior cameras, it was perfect without the picture.) With hundreds of others, we cheered the opening in the clouds, cheered the arrival of the sun, cheered the total eclipse and ooh-aahed at the mid-day darkness.
As the moon moved out of totality we were beset by the clack of lawn chairs being collapsed, car doors slamming, parents summoning children, motors firing up. Quicker than I can escape the threat of liver-and-onions, the crowd was packed up and motoring away.
Great day. Miraculous moment.