Last Year

Last year.

We took a family excursion to Cannon Beach, Oregon

my sons and I

and their significant others 

(wife for one, fiancee for the other)

and the grandkids.

There was go-karting

and mini golf 

(Oliver, you're not supposed to get loft with a putter)

and posing for pictures with Mom and Dad

and Uncle Gavin and soon-to-be Aunt Danielle

There was browsing in my favorite store in Cannon Beach

Sesame + Lilies

with the obligatory selfie to prove that I was there

(gosh, my hair has grown a huge amount in the past year)

but the main event --

the reason we were there

was

the solar eclipse.

We were a few miles outside the totality zone

(that's what happens when you make reservations

as soon as you find out about the event

before the final calculations are done)

and it was twilight

but not completely dark.

Close enough.

When I was a kid, I remember watching an eclipse

with a device my dad made so our eyes wouldn't get burned --

some kind of thing where the sunlight came through a hole

and shined on the opposite wall, I think.

We watched the whole thing from my grandparents' yard

in Portland.

I don't remember a lot of detail from my childhood,

but I remember that. It seemed like a divine mystery.

Some kind of astronomical blessing.

I wanted to give Logan and Oliver

that kind of memory.