This Just In – My son, Rob, was totally right about totality.
In 2017, Rob ditched work and hopped in his car to drive to somewhere in South Carolina for a few hours to experience the total solar eclipse. My sons are both science nerds (that’s a compliment) and Rob came home very excited about the experience. At that time, he began lobbying that the whole family MUST plan a trip for April 8, 2024 to have a similar experience.
He’d send YouTube videos to us from time to time and reminders, but to be honest, life kind of got in the way last year when my dear husband spent much of the Spring and Summer fighting for his very life in and out (and back in) of UNC Hospital.
Suddenly, it was mid-March and we had a family meeting wherein we would decide if we could even achieve the logistics of what would be needed to get seven of us (five adults, two kids) into transportation to get to location that would be in the path of totality and have enough other stuff to do that if cloud cover killed our viewing plan, we wouldn’t feel the trip was wasted.
A long and sometimes complicated list of considerations had to be worked out and of course all of our planning did not bring any control over the most important X factor – the weather.
So we went through a strategic planning process. We agreed on Akron, Ohio as our site and found accommodations. We decided on a go/no go date as our reservations could be cancelled without penalty a couple of days ahead of arrival. If the weather predicted heavy rain and no chance of viewing, we would not go.
The most important factor that I was watching was my son, Rob. His persistence in driving this forward was telling me that if there was any possible way to achieve this, we simply had to do it. As a parent, I know that I told Rob and Brian that I know that the long, long drive to Orlando was really boring (it is), but they’d have to trust me – it would be worth it.
I said that about driving to New England to visit family, too. Twelve hours in the car for young kids – there better be something great at the end of that. For them, it was grandmas. So for the many, many times that I asked these boys to believe my assurances, this time, it was my turn. Rob says this will be a great experience. I’m going to listen to him.
I also listened to a Facebook friend who’s from the Cleveland area. She encouraged skepticism about anything negative in the forecast. She was completely right.
Our hotel was adjacent to the local library branch and they sponsored a viewing party in their parking lot. Chairs, water, cookies and eclipse glasses for anyone who needed them. There we all were alongside a former Goodyear Tire plant in Akron Ohio, listening to the perfectly timed Dark Side of the Moon thanks to Rob’s bringing Bluetooth speakers. The last track, “Eclipse” ran at 3:14 PM, when totality arrived. The Internet has some good moments and sharing how to do this with precision is one of them.
The conditions for viewing were completely perfect. Wispy clouds, but not obstruction. The eclipse started, the sky dimmed, the streetlights came on, the temperature chilled. At totality, we got quite a show of planets normally not visible in mid-day. All as promised. The crowd of a hundred or so cheered.
All of this was wonderful, of course, but Rob was the most fun to watch. He was making sure anyone who needed anything got what they needed. He checked with everyone around us and the library staff to make sure the music was ok with them. He wanted this to go exactly right.
And it did. Thanks, Rob.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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