Well, we did it… we managed to get ourselves up last night and — this is the tricky part — the kids(!) and watched the eclipse. Not start-to-finish since it started about 2 am our time and would have gone on until about 3:30… but enough of it to see the moon go from a cookie with a bite out of it to a glowing, pale orange disk. We saw the milky way. One boy saw a shooting star… and all the stars were brilliant.
We heard coyotes howl. We heard the wind rustling the branches and leaves.
We had some light pollution around the edges, in every direction except north-northwest; and the constant hum of cars on the highway (miles from us) and an occasional car on the main road about a mile away interrupted the peace of the night.
It was a cool night, a light breeze sighed now and again… we wrapped up in extra blankets and leaned against the car — and each other.
We talked about the life cycles of stars, planets in other galaxies, galaxies of various shapes and sizes.
And finally, we retired again to dream of space travel, dark nights with bright stars, and coming home again.
At least, that is what I dreamed…