We had known the eclipse was coming for years. Some people planned long in advance, booking flights and rooms in places within the path of totality. Others, like Lina and I, acted more on the spur of the moment. We drove north to Morrisville, VT on the morning of April 8, where we watched the eclipse from the cemetery where our friend Anne is buried, in the company of her brother, his wife and their daughter. The skies were clear, the day lovely.

With us in the cemetery were a large group from Worcester, MA; and a smaller company of six Brooklynites who had driven four hours to Ithaca, NY, found the skies cloudy and driven four more hours to northern Vermont! Two hound dogs rounded out the party.

My sons’ family watched the eclipse from just over the border into Canada. Photo by Sam Blair.

We watched closely with our eclipse glasses to see the moment when the moon first began to cover the sun. The moon’s slow progress toward totality was barely noticeable unless we were watching, as the light hardly seemed to dim. But then we entered an early twilight, which deepened, until, suddenly, it was dark. Not pitch dark, instead a deep dusk. Watching through eclipse glasses, I saw nothing.

I realized: I can take the glasses off now! And there was the glorious corona of the sun, with a small light pulsing at about 6:30 on the face of the disc.

Image from Adobe Stock

This magic moment lasted for three minutes, and then, again suddenly, there was a tiny sliver of the sun showing. Back with the glasses, and early dawn, and before long, even though much of the sun was still covered, the landscape was bright.

Is death like this?

We’ve known for years that we will one day die. As we get older, preparations are made (or not). We are now aware that death could come at any moment, as it already has for some of our friends.

Some of us enter a period of months or days when we know our death is imminent, as do all those around us. We are watching for it. Others of us die without warning (although we have all been warned). In either case, the light suddenly goes out.

But we have been looking through a glass darkly. When we remove that glass, will we see GLORY ?

Perhaps the vision we have at the moment of our death will not last. Maybe we’ll enter into a new phase of our life, the light returning to illuminate – a different landscape?

We truly don’t know. At least I don’t. I am curious to know the answers. One day I believe I will.