Someone asked me today if I saw the solar eclipse on April 8. Technically, I was outside looking skyward, yet clouds obscured anything remotely resembling a sun or moon. How was I to answer that question other than, “I tried.”
I’m not one to get excited about such rare celestial occurrences anyway. Researching how many partial and full, lunar and solar eclipses that have taken place since my birth, there’ve been 312, or 4.457 for every year of my life.
A song sung by Roy Hawkins in 1951, titled, “The Thrill is gone.,” immediately comes to mind. The late blues musician B.B. King sings it best. Lyrics go like this,
“The thrill is gone
It’s gone for good
All the thrill is gone
Baby, it’s gone for good.”
I’m not positive this song meaning relates to watching too many eclipses, but it does for me. Whenever I hear that another eclipse is on the way, it generally goes in one ear and out the other. There’s one exception to this star gazing, and that’s to see Halley’s Comet when it once again passes over earth.
The last time that happened was in 1986, and I was in Alaska. With the skies there being cloudy a good portion of time, I can’t remember if I saw it or not, but it’s highly likely I was outside looking up. I’m not so sure I would’ve even known what it looked like had I saw it. According to NASA, there are over 3,800 comets in our solar system.
Halley’s Comet is set to appear over our planet once again in 2061. Hopefully, I’ll be prepared this time and there’ll be no clouds to hinder observation. Telling my wife this, she said that if I do catch a glimpse, it’ll be from a totally different perspective. That comment took a couple of seconds for me to comprehend.
Yes, she’s right—unless I make it to 107. If not, I’ll be looking down at things instead of up. Fortunately, a person won’t end up with a kinked neck while doing so.
I like to write junk... 