Next week’s solar eclipse will be the third I’ve experienced in my lifetime. It also will be the last: The next eclipse visible from southeast Ohio won’t occur until 2099. Barring monumental medical advancements, it’s unlikely I’ll be around when I’m 134 years old.
I don’t need an astronomical event to remind me of my mortality, though. From my desk in the living room, I can look out the back window at the redbud tree that sprang up by the deck some years ago, its mauve blossoms a splash of color at the periphery of my sight. Late last week I drove up 682 on my way to West Union Street, giving me a spectacular view of the Yoschino cherry trees in bloom along the Hocking River. My wildflower garden teems with bloodroot.
I know it’s unlikely I’ll see another eclipse, but how many more times will I see the beauty of a southeast Ohio spring? Could be 30; could be none.
The poet A.E. Housman captured this bittersweet feeling perfectly (oh no, she’s quoting poetry again!):
Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more.
Obnoxious internet memes exhort us to live every day as if it were our last, but c’mon. If we actually lived each day as if it were our last, none of us would work, do chores or run errands, and there’s only so many times you can turn your underwear inside out before things get nasty.
It’s better — more realistic — to appreciate the beautiful and wondrous as we go about our lives. Seize the day when it really matters … like the opportunity to watch the moon blot out the sun.
Some schools will be closed on Monday so families can observe the eclipse. Some will travel west or north to be in the path of totality; others will stay here. We won’t get the full effect, but we’ll still see part of the sun disappear.
The rest of the Independent’s staff have better chances of seeing the 2099 eclipse than I do, but ya never know. So we’re closed on Monday, too. I hope we have a clear day for it; as I write this, the National Weather Service is predicting partly sunny skies, which could make for a disappointing day. (Historically, southeast Ohio has 60% to 70% cloud cover on April 8, according to weather.gov.)
If that’s the case, I recommend a walk in the woods. Watch for salamanders near a creek or look for wildflowers — last week’s state wildflower report found trillium, bluets and marsh marigolds in southern Ohio, so they might be blooming here by Monday. Nowhere is more gorgeous than southeast Ohio in the spring, and if you have the day off anyway you might as well take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy it. As Housman wrote,
And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.
P.S. We’ve assembled a package of eclipse-themed articles, from viewing safety to rumor squashing. Look for them under the 2024 Solar Eclipse heading.
