World According to Mark

By Mark Tabola

This past winter was a bit "strange," and as such, we didn't get to enjoy a great many activities in the snow that I usually partake in with my family. So, our winter was rather boring because of it. I had known about the solar eclipse for some time, so we decided to go ahead and take the family south to see a total solar eclipse. One of the big things that impacted me to do so was a bunch of business seminars that we had attended.  In many of them, the speakers were also parents, and shared that they really tried to take their children to experience things, rather than just give them stuff. The experiences stick with them, whereas the stuff just comes and goes.

Prior to the event, I discovered that NASA had a web page to show where you could go to see a total solar eclipse. We drove a little over eight hours to Salem, Illinois, and found a park to nestle down in. We had arrived early, so we had time for a leisurely picnic lunch, and time for a nice walk around the area. It was a gorgeous 77 degrees, and just traces of clouds in the sky. In other words, you couldn't have asked for a nicer day for the event.  We packed our eclipse glasses so we could view the event safely, too. And over the course of an hour, we periodically checked as the moon started to cross in front of the sun.

About 10 minutes prior to the full eclipse, you really noticed the light change around you and all the night lights flickered on. And as it got to be a smaller and smaller sliver of the sun visible, it kept getting darker. And suddenly, the eclipse was total, and you could remove the glasses, and you could see the total solar eclipse. The collective of people had gasps of awe and astonishment, and other remarks about how incredible it was to see the total eclipse. I've attached the one good picture that I was able to get while I was there. It was a few minutes to stop and just look at something you don't get to see very often, and just experience something new.

Besides the event itself, something else caught me as incredibly encouraging:  Everyone was great. It didn't matter where we met them, but everyone was friendly, respectful, and easy to visit with. It was as if for this event, all these things going on today in and around the world were all put aside so we all could enjoy this together. I wish we could see more of that all over, instead of just in rare moments. Because that was the extra bonus of the whole thing:  I got to see the best we have to offer, and it was glorious.