Day 48: Eclipse

Today was the "Great American Eclipse", as in, the eclipse was visible coast to coast.  It may also be that not all countries get quite as excited as we do here in the US.  I remember getting to see a partial eclipse when I was in first grade in 1994.  The total eclipse was far west of where I lived, and when it was at its peak, I did not have a permission slip signed, so I had to wait to get home and use the pinhole box my dad had made for me to see the remnants.  It was still fun.  Today felt similar to that.  I did not plan ahead and get eclipse glasses months ago in preparation.  I don't even know that I thought the news was real until last week.  By that time, there was no getting glasses.  I was lucky enough to get off work early.  I tried making a pinhole box that did not work.  I tried poking a hole in aluminum foil and shining it on a piece of paper.  That didn't work either.  I was feverishly looking around on google images to figure out what I was supposed to be seeing, and stumbled on one random image of someone holding up a sieve on the side of their house to view the crescents.  So I ran inside and got a sieve thinking that this might work, and if it didn't, at least I tried.  Shining the light through the holes in the bottom of the sieve projected at least a hundred tiny crescents on the wall.  I've been telling people that while they all watched one eclipse, I watched hundreds.  It was mesmerizing.  What was even more interesting was how nature responded.  Odie didn't know where to lie down outside because it wasn't sunny.  Boris sauntered into the kitchen because he wasn't sure but thought it might be time to eat.  Julia was the only one who didn't react.  Outside, the crickets were deafening.  It was louder than it normally is at night.  Or, it was the same loudness, but I was trying to listen for it.  I may not have been at a location with a total eclipse view, but I enjoyed my hundred eclipses through my sieve in the backyard with the chance to listen to nature's response.  I feel like, in some ways, it is similar to how we approach spirituality.  We do not look directly at the Higher Power, but rather, either through a lens or only at his shadow.  We see wonder even though there is a filter.  Like in Eben Alexander's book, Proof of Heaven, we cannot fully comprehend the beauty of creation without having something to tone down the strength of the greatness.  Life is a filter, but we can still find ways to catch glimpses of the grandness of creation, like in the way we all stopped, looked, and listened today.  I hope to find more of these glimpses, even if it is only the shadow of the true grandeur.