Assignment: Write a 5 paragraph essay describing the superiority of how you spent the 2017 solar eclipse.
How I Spent My Solar Eclipse
By: Angie Bier
When it comes to solar eclipses, the eclipse of 2017 was an important one. I don’t know much about any previous solar eclipses. I remember one happening in the early 80’s. It involved cereal boxes, the St. Mary’s School playground, and the fear of irrevocable blindness should one so much as glance above the horizon. Ever since then, I’ve tended to steer clear of major celestial events. That being said, the hype surrounding yesterday’s event made me sit up and take notice. Given the importance of the event, I honored it by taking a really great nap. I will attempt to persuade you that napping through the eclipse was the best choice.
To begin with, from what I can tell from my social media feeds, southeast Wisconsin wasn’t exactly prime seating for the eclipse. More like second balcony: you’d be at the event, but always bothered by the niggling thought that your seats are REALLY BAD. We weren’t in the line of “totality”, and it was a generally overcast day. It never got fully dark, there were no aberrant cicadas, and the dog didn’t seem particularly upset. Instead, I enjoyed NASA’s absolutely perfect live coverage and the pictures on more dedicated friends’ social media feeds.
Secondly, I was woefully unprepared. Somehow, maybe with all of the travel and re-entry, I missed the whole “buying eclipse glasses” and “making things out of boxes” fever. The kids were at dance for the duration of the event, so the pressure was off. And as is my motto, if you’re not going to do something to the nth degree, probably best not to do it at all. So, no kids + no gear = no perfect eclipse viewing for me.
Finally, creative napping is an important hobby in my life. If I ever appear on Jeopardy! I plan to chat about this with Alex Trebek, and I expect he’ll be pretty impressed. There’s some genetic thing in my family wherein we can fall asleep quickly and nearly anywhere. In fact, there was a great-uncle priest who would routinely fall asleep while saying mass and the nuns took turns creeping up from the front pew to wake him. During college, I learned the value of a good, well-timed, 20 minute power nap to reset during the early afternoon. I would be happy to rattle off a list of my top ten naps if asked. So, given the generally dusky appearance outside and otherwise empty house, I chose to take a nice 20 minute nap in the best spot in the house (corner of the sectional) under a light afghan. I set a timer, but true to form I woke up refreshed just before the alarm went off. I need to give it some serious thought, but I’m pretty sure I can add this nap to the top 10 list, given the attendant situational details.
By now I’m sure that by now you would agree that napping during the solar eclipse of 2017 was my best choice. Given the sub optimal viewing conditions, my lack of preparation, and the quality of my nap, sleeping during the eclipse was easily once of the best decisions I’ve ever made and not at all something of which I should be ashamed, mortified, or otherwise publicly humiliated.
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