A Glimpse of Totality

A Glimpse of Totality

As promised, eclipse pictures!

When I heard that there would be thunderstorms on the day of the total solar eclipse, I refused to believe it. Austin was only at the very edge of totality, so for months I planned a trip to the inner-circle of Texas’ “line of totality”, where it gets darkest for the longest duration. I hoped to find the most breathtaking sight.

But as we came closer, viewing looked more and more bleak.

From declarations of emergency throughout several Texas cities, to warnings about traffic and gas shortages (all of which I was willing to bear), the one thing that made me choose to stay in Austin was the weather. There was no reason to risk all that if there was no sun to watch eclipse.

Yes, I cried.

But then a miracle happened. I decided to go outside a little after 12:30 (as the eclipse began) to see what I could see. I grabbed my glasses and looked up into the sky, and what did I see peeking through the clouds but a gracefully eclipsing sun.

From my own patio.

I dragged a chair outside, and along with my eclipse glasses and camera, spent the next hour and a half in a lovely personal photo shoot with the sun itself.

The sky darkened to a lovely post-twilight, and as I sat there feeling the beauty of the Earth’s temporary changes in ambiance, I listened. For those brief couple of minutes, the birds fell to silence, the squirrels remained still, and Earth fell asleep.

Even my dog stopped howling and went to bed.

If you’ve never experienced an eclipse, it is a breathtaking sensation. A few stolen moments of silence and stillness settling comfortably over the chaos of daylight, giving everyone a few moments to simply breathe.

And breathe I did.

And cried more.

And these pictures are what came of it.

I will never forget this beautiful day.