The traffic was insane. On Friday, right after school, my father, my sister, my dog and I drove to Poplar Bluff to meet with my mother, who was already there. What is usually a three-hour drive to my grandparents’ house became almost four hours due to the amount of people traveling. Poplar Bluff, where much of my family lives, was in the path of totality for the solar eclipse.
Over the weekend, I remember seeing many campers and RVs parked at the local Walmart. I remember watching one man trying to get his dog to relieve itself on the concrete, despite the large stretch of grass beside them. Many people were inside the Walmart as well, more so than there usually is on an average day. There were a lot of people.
On Monday, my family gathered in my grandparents’ backyard. Unable to see the eclipse without both my normal glasses and the eclipse glasses, I cut the eclipse glasses and taped them to the inside of mine. After my aunt saw my work of genius, I did the same for hers.
We had been worried about what to do for our dog, Minka, as well. If we took her outside, she might very well be blinded by the eclipse. But if we left her inside, she would be stressed and confused as to where everyone had gone and why the sky was going dark through the windows. I then also made Minka her own DIY glasses, taping them at the back so that they wouldn’t fall off of her head.
My uncle helped me and my cousins onto the roof of my grandparents shed. From there we watched the moon eclipse the sun, the world becoming enveloped in darkness. Dogs stopped barking, birds stopped chirping, and police sirens were heard in the background. There was a small conversation about criminal activity in the night versus during the solar eclipse. I remember how the light refracted, forming a greenish – almost rainbow – circle in the sky just below the eclipse.
Then, after 4 minutes and 28 seconds, the sun returned. As I said in a text to my friends as is occurred, “ITS SO BRIGHT ALL OF A SUDDEN.” Indeed, the birds and dogs and sirens continued as the sky returned to its light hue of blue. And then I climbed down a ladder and went inside like nothing happened.
