I thought the boys were going to stay in the boat the whole time, but halfway through the eclipse they were rowing back to shore, their plan having been to see half of it on the water and half on the land. I didn’t care what they were doing as long as they were seeing it. We traveled down to Hoyleton and stayed with friends overnight. We visited throughout the morning and the kids especially enjoyed the outdoors.

Their house ended up being the perfect place to watch. I had to make a decision earlier in the week where I gave up my idea of going about 30 miles farther south. It didn’t make any sense to do that. Yes, we would’ve seen the total coverage for a little bit longer, but we would not have a bathroom, or any sure place to go, and who knows what the traffic would’ve been like. It actually wasn’t too bad this time.

But that extra half a minute seemed like a lot to give up. And I cried in my bed in the afternoon lull, remembering the joys from the last one, and thinking how after this we may never see another eclipse again. This truly happened. And it was deeper and it was more. And it was everything. We had another wonderful time. The boat was put back and then we brought the viewing chairs back over to the patio.