The most amazing 2 minutes and 40 seconds of my life
I had to post a quick update about the most amazing thing I have ever seen. That’s not hyperbole. I’ve traveled the world, seen the Great Pyramids, climbed more than halfway up Everest, seen a wild Bengal tiger, and so much more. But truly a total solar eclipse was the most amazing, mind-blowing, skin-tingling thing I’ve ever seen.
The above photo is bad by any standards, but it doesn’t matter if it was the best picture ever taken. An eclipse is something you have to see with your own eyes. And it isn’t just a visual sensation. The whole world changes from light to dark. The stars shine. The crickets begin to chirp. The dew falls out of the air. There is a 360º sunset. The shadows also had a 360º psychedelic appearance.
I now know why the ancients worshipped the sun, and the Incas tied it to a rock so it wouldn’t disappear. Looking up, I saw my place in the universe. Small like an ant, insignificant. But also big enough to reach up to the moon, a colossus taking his place in the universe.
A moment of enlightenment perhaps, but definitely an experience that defies words. I often tell kids that you can read all the books in the world about hamburgers, but you’ll never really know a hamburger until you eat one.
I’ll never remember passing a guy sitting in a lawn chair at a rest stop. “This is 99% totality. That’s good enough for me,” he said, looking at miles of traffic in both directions. He was very practical. How often have I said, “This is good enough.” But he missed everything. It was literally the difference between night and day. I had to keep my glasses on all the way until 100%. Even just 1% of sunlight is blinding. And when totally hit. Wow! I couldn’t believe it.
By the way, pictured here is my co-author Sara. She’s a child psychologist, and I’m an author and graphic designer. Together, we wrote “Dream It: A Playbook to Spark Your Awesomeness” and Scott drew all of the illustrations by hand. We both have a love of travel and inspiring others to take adventures — we believe that encouraging children to dream is the best adventure of all!
