Unlike many people, April 8, 2024 was not a day that I was anticipating. I had some mild intrigue around a week prior and drove to multiple Lowe’s and Home Depot’s to see if they were selling more Eclipse glasses. All of them had run out, so I gave up and accepted that I could just find videos of it on TikTok if I felt like seeing it. Luckily for me, I realized that I had thought the eclipse was a whole week earlier than it was. Still, I procrastinated until the eclipse day to resume my search.
I woke up on the 8th, assumed that my classes were canceled for the day, and resumed my search. I called a couple of people to ask if they had any extra glasses and received no response, as few people I know are awake before 11 AM. To my surprise, it only took me going to three places to find glasses for my mother and I. Stopping first at my local library; I didn’t even need to walk into the building before hearing two older ladies say that the library was out. So, I tried my luck at Huntsville’s downtown library. This is where I finally managed to get my hands on a pair.
I felt lucky just getting my hands on a single pair, given that I had waited so long to seek them out. This is when my friend called me back and told me she had another pair. After getting those, I sat down and kept looking at where the sun might’ve been (it was cloudy for a while) until I could actually see something. Whenever something decently interesting happened, I would call my mom outside to see it. It would have been an underwhelming experience if not for the fact that I’d likely only be able to see a total solar eclipse with my own eyes a handful of times.
All in all, seeing the eclipse was a mildly enjoyable experience.