I'll admit I wasn't planning to post anything, but I realized I at least want to document this for myself, so here's my story and some of my favorite pictures that I got.
Joe and I have been talking about this Solar Eclipse since 2017 when one passed over the United States. We couldn't travel to see that one, but we knew then that we didn't want to miss this one as it would be so close to us that it'd be ridiculous to not see it. In 2023 we began making solid plans for where to go since totality would miss us in Fort Wayne. We weren't sure that Joe would have the day off, so I took to studying maps of the path of totality. I was looking to find a spot that would be no more than an hour away (in case we couldn't leave until after his plan period started at 1:35), that should be easy to get to because it's near highways, and that would offer as much totality as possible. My search lead me to the little town of Rockford, OH which would get 3 1/2 minutes of totality.
In January, the eclipse came up in a family chat and I mentioned that we had made plans months prior. Shortly after that, my parents asked about our plans and let us know that they intended to join us. I realized that while I had picked a town, I still hadn't picked an exact spot, which was necessary if my parents would be meeting us there. Initially my goal was that Joe and I would take a road trip to Rockford to check it out beforehand, but as time passed, it was clear we weren't gonna fit that in. So I went to Google maps to see what I could find in Rockford, OH that would make a good viewing spot. I spotted the cemetery, a park, and a school pretty quickly. But then I saw New Horizon's Community Church. I went to their website and found that they would be holding an event in their parking lot with activities for kids and a food truck. I decided that sounded like the best option although I was worried it would be too packed or something. But I didn't have any better ideas, so that became my plan.
As the day approached, I brought up my plans to our friends and offered for them to join us. They were struggling a bit to figure out work stuff and then we missed a couple weeks of getting together with them. Before I knew it, it was the weekend before the big day. We were trying to figure out when we could get together with our friends and I told them again of my plans for the eclipse and they decided to join us. By this point we knew Joe didn't need to work and I could easily get out of work too, but didn't think I needed to skip my morning work at church, so instead of leaving from our house, we would be leaving from our church.
The nights beforehand I had trouble sleeping as I had bad dreams of missing the eclipse entirely whether it was somehow my fault or something complete outside of my control. I was getting increasingly anxious as I realized that these had always been my plans and now they would affect my friends and some of my family who decided to join us. I was so worried something would go wrong and I'd let everyone down for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I also was struggling to decide on what equipment to take for photos or video. Something I had been planning for over many months was suddenly almost here and I felt so unprepared.
My parents, uncle, brother, and his kids were already there when we arrived at New Horizons Community Church at about 1:30 pm on April 8. We got our chairs, special glasses, and equipment set up as we chatting and snacked (I brought an obnoxious amount of food with us). The parking lot was not that full and I realized that it probably wouldn't get very full at all. As we got closer to totality, we compared pictures as we observed sun spots in our images. Around 3 pm the light began to look strange. It wasn't bright and the color temperature seemed off. The air felt colder and colder without the full heat of the sun beating down on us. And then totality started. The horizon glowed with colors like at dusk, the air grew still, the temperature dropped, and we could look right up at the sun with our bare, unprotected eyes. It was stunning.
I snapped pictures and took a quick video in between looking around and trying to take it all in. And then as quickly as it started, it ended. We immediately talked about how fast those 3 1/2 minutes went by. We didn't want it to end so soon. It was amazing. We stayed until about 4 pm and then packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed back to church.
I wasn't in a rush to look at my pictures because I didn't think they had captured how incredible it was. And truthfully they don't even come close to capturing the full experience. But they do capture what happened with the sun and moon, and you can see the progression of the prominences. They may be a bit lackluster compared to the images coming out of NASA, but these are mine. I took these. I was there with friends and family and got to witness and experience a total solar eclipse for 3 1/2 minutes. It was perfect. ❤
Thank you so much to New Horizons Community Church for hosting this event! I'll never forget it.
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