Eclipsed

I’ve mentioned before that I lean more toward the humanities than the sciences. Whenever we visit science museums I find myself listening to my 3rd Grader explain to me how things like gravity and magnetism work because I have no idea how they work. The Spouse is opposite of me in this way and loves science. So, I wasn’t surprised by his fascination with the upcoming eclipse as he watched countless videos on what to expect. I paid little attention to the hype other than securing some glasses for our crew.

Obviously, I have no qualifications to write about anything scientific, not to mention a solar eclipse. Many have done so eloquently and some of the professional pictures from that afternoon are breathtaking. All I can say is that the totality moment was such a strange and incredible display of the heavens declaring the glory of God.

The moments leading up to it were a little stressful because of one member of our party who didn’t take her vision as seriously as others.

It’s such a good thing local schools were called off that day because I can’t imagine the stress of being a kindergarten teacher and trying to ensure all 12-20 of the children in your care kept their glasses securely glued to their little faces. It was hard enough making sure one did.

Speaking of things that are hard… the Kindergartener is learning the pledge of allegiance at school. When you think about a typical 5-year-old’s vocabulary, the pledge has some challenging words in it. So, I shouldn’t be surprised that there seems to be some confusion as to what this recitation is all about. When I was combing her hair out the other night she was practicing:

“I pledge a legion to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Publix, for which it stands…”

She may not know the words “allegiance” or “republic,” but we definitely know what Publix is. And, Publix bakery hands out free cookies to children, so I suppose in her mind it makes sense to show it some respect.

And, speaking of respect… I get none around here. I’m ready for fall already largely because fall clothes are better than summer clothes for those of us who don’t tan. Ever since the birth of the Kindergartener my legs have been not only pale but also plagued with varicose veins. I’m more self-conscious about this than maybe one should be, but I was longing for fall the other day when I bemoaned out loud:

Me: I’m afraid my legs look like old lady legs already.

5th Grader: Oh, I don’t think so. But, I would definitely recommend a tan.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Conversations like that make me think I should hang onto our eclipse glasses for awhile. Instead of sending the girls to time-out, I’ll just tell them to go put their eclipse glasses on for a few minutes and experience blindness until the timer goes off.

Or, until they have an “eclipse” of the heart.