Tuesday, September 5, 2017

I Saw The Total Solar Eclipse

Written by Kodi Wolf at 12:04 PM

Despite all the medical drama of the past couple months (including a little trip to the ER for that kidney stone I was passing), August was my best month of writing since February.

My total word count for August was 26,199, which averages out to 845 words per day. My lowest words per day was 185 and my highest was 3,563.

I have to say the highlight of my month, though, was getting to see the total solar eclipse, which was just incredible.

I went into it not really expecting that much, but also not wanting to pass up the opportunity to see it. Those kinds of experiences tend to come around once in a lifetime and as a writer, I like to collect that kind of stuff for later story fodder. The other cool thing is that the eclipse was on August 21st, the 13th anniversary of my handfasting to my wife Corene. That was just one more reason why we couldn't miss it.

Corene and I only had to drive about 3 hours to get in the path of totality and it was so worth it. That has to be one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. I actually got choked up. But there was also this peaceful moment, where I had my arm around my wife's waist as we leaned back against the side of the car and just looked up at the eclipse together. I even achieved my secret goal of a quick kiss during the eclipse. :)

I still haven't seen any footage that accurately shows what it really looked like. When they show a wide shot, they get the blue of the sky, but the eclipse ends up looking like a tiny white blur. And when they zoom in to show the eclipse, the sky goes black because the camera can't take the brightness of the white, so you just have this glowing white ring surrounded by blackness. If you can imagine putting those two things together, you'll come close to what it actually looked like.

Imagine the sky at around 5am. The sun hasn't come up yet, but you can see the yellow glow on the horizon. Then high in the sky, in the center of that dark pale blue, there's a perfect black circle the size of the sun surrounded by a wispy halo of pure bright white light. That's the best description I can come up with and it really doesn't do it justice.

There was also the surrealness of it looking like 5am, and yet knowing the sun was high in the sky.

The next one going over the United States is on April 8, 2024 and we're already planning to see it since one of my sisters lives directly in the path of totality. We've already booked our room at her house. :)

Anyway, if you ever get a chance to see a total solar eclipse, do it. You won't be disappointed.