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Suddenly, all those long years melted away as in a dream, and I could again feel the scratchy wool of the winter suit Mama insisted I wear on that long ago December night. We snapped away, chirping about the eclipse’s dark beauty and having a high old time.Īs totality came in, though, Lizbeth and I fell silent. We grabbed Miss Dorothy’s Celestron 10x50s and, almost as an afterthought, a little Fuji superzoom digicam. Even that modest telescope seemed contrary to the Spirit of ’64. Not even the ETX, Charity Hope Valentine, who produced some beautiful eclipse pictures the last time Selene hid her shining face. A Christmas that comes when you really need it.Īnyhoo, Lizbeth and I enjoyed the heck out of this December’s eclipse. Perhaps there’s exactly one special Christmas to a customer. There’s never been another Christmas quite like it-though the Christmas of '72 comes VERY close. Not only did I gape at that grand eclipse, that was the Christmas Stars entered my life at another church party that December, just as I was on the cusp of huge change. That year will always be remembered by me as the Astronomy Christmas. In 1964 something was auspiciously aligned, whether the Moon or the Fates. And how she worked her legendary wiles to see I wasn’t only awestruck by the eclipse, but empowered by it. How my teacher and mentor, Miss Emily Baldwin, herded us outside as totality began. How I’d argued with Mama about missing the eclipse for a dumb old church party. Especially of the night of the BIG KINGSWOOD YOUTH CHRISTMAS PARTY, which coincided with a total lunar eclipse. I got out, snapped a cell phone pic or two, and long dormant memories came flooding back as I stood on the winter-brown lawn. Some pinhead tried to gussy up the old building, I reckon, and fell prey to the dreaded The Only Enemy of Good Enough is More Better syndrome. The near-bizarre flying saucer-shaped Mid-century Modern sanctuary still stands, though its simple elegance has been ruined by the new roof that now caps it. What gobsmacked me was how little has changed. On a whim, almost, on the way to the Target store to pick up one last brace of gifts, I turned down a well-remembered street and stopped in front of Mama’s church. And when I am honest with myself, I admit most of my memories of it are good ones. Kingswood was a significant part of my life whether I liked it or not. Be that as it may, if you were a suburban family in the 60s, especially a southern suburban family, out in the New Frontier beyond the cultural resources of the city, social life for both kids and adults revolved around two things: school and church. I was in church frequently until my teen years-thanks to Mama-until I finally rebelled one cold and wet Sunday morning toward the end of the 1960s. So it is for me with Christmas ’64 at the Kingswood Methodist Church. As December 25th comes on, memories of Christmases past attain a golden glow-even those Christmases that weren't so rosy when we lived them. I suppose if I ever feel like I am missing anything by not being a member of a congregation, it is at this numinous time of year. I am a believer, but I've never been able to summon up much enthusiasm for organized religion. As most of y’all know, I am not a church-goer. Preparing to make this entry, I felt drawn to revisit the scene, for me, of the total lunar eclipse of December 18, 1964, Mama’s Methodist church. I could check, but there’s no need to only one has lodged itself in my memory and made much difference beyond the immediate. Oh, I suppose I’ve seen a few more December eclipses than that. In fact, we were gobsmacked to realize this was the first lunar eclipse of any sort she’s witnessed.
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Hope you caught it.įor Lizbeth, it was her first Christmastime eclipse. The Decemtotal lunar eclipse was a pretty and dark one, muchachos. Wherever our chills came from, they were worth enduring. For once, the weather gods cooperated, with the inevitable bad ol’ clouds holding off till after mid-eclipse. Some of the chills, however, came not from our icy 45F weather, but from the spectacle of a Real Good Christmas Eclipse. It was well after midnight and still my daughter Lizbeth and I braved the cold.