In less than a day Indianapolis will be in the path of totality for a solar eclipse. There has been a great deal of hype for this around here. Well deserved hype as it is rare to be in the center of this amazing astronomical event. Eclipses have been important to humanity since we first looked up at the sky. In ancient times it was seen as a bad omen by some. It sparked curiosity in early scientists that helped thinkers develop a better understanding of the movement of celestial bodies. While we understand and can predict these and so many other movements today, there are still some people who try to link it to the supernatural. A certain member of Congress and her propagandist boyfriend have both said it is a sign of God punishing us. These, of course, are not serious people but do have a following. I hope the eclipse brings out the best in people as they observe the moon pass between the earth and the sun and we have a few minutes of night in the middle of tomorrow afternoon. I honestly can't wait.
When I was young, like many small children in the late 60s, I was obsessed with space. Rockets that eventually took humans to moon, satellites, and of course the mainstream science fiction has me thinking by the time I was going to be the age I am now we would be colonizing the moon and maybe Mars. So in the spring of 1970 when an eclipse was happening that crossed New York State I really wanted to see it. I honestly can't remember how much of it would be seen by us in Ogdensburg as I believe the center of the event would be over New York City almost 400 miles away. So I have no recollection of the day of the event, I do know I missed seeing it. However, one night not long after the eclipse my dad came to me in my bed, he had the cardboard with the hole punched in, a flashlight and piece of paper to project onto and showed me what I would have seen if I could see the eclipse. I can't recall all the details of that evening, but the fact that he did that left an indelible mark on my memory and nearly 50 years later I still remember that he did that. I lost my dad when I was not yet 13 years old. All of my memories of him a childhood memories. Some good, some bad and some just natural family stuff. I remember that day we got cable in our house for the first time and my dad sitting in front of the TV watching his Yankees on WPIX with Phil Rizzuto, The Scooter. I remember him in the kitchen making dozens of loaves of bread as he ended his army career in the mess cooking for the troops, I still have his fry cake maker an invention that you poured the batter in and it made round blobs that seized up when it hit the hot oil to make doughnuts. But the memory of the eclipse lives with me because it felt like a one-on-one. My brothers and sisters were not involved. I am sure they all have similar moments and being older, maybe even more. But what I have is a special memory I will always have.
On Monday, as I look to the sky, I will be amazed by the apparent swallowing of the light of the sun. I will watch through the special glasses and will likely also make a little cardboard device to see the projection. At totality when we remove the glasses for those brief seconds and see the sun's corona, (if there isn't a lot of cloud cover) I don't know what other people will be thinking, but I will be thinking of my dad, and I will certainly make that memory a blessing.
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