4:33 am: it is cloudy and raining, and I’m up too early. The full flower moon super moon eclipse viewing followed by the bday 5k may not happen.

5:11 am: it’s still raining and I’m going back to bed.

6-ish am: watching the eclipse online in California. Observatory #1 was socked in, but found a Bay-area site with hosted by four astronomers who apparently do this thing a lot. They’d been up since 1 in the morning California time watching the skies and getting ready for this moment. The cat & I hung out with them and watched the earth’s shadow move slowly across the surface of the moon and turn it red for about 15 minutes then slowly move away.

It’s cool when things you found cool as a kid are still cool as a grown-up.

10:49 am: I’m sitting in my happy place—Starbucks, mask-free, doing what’s best done in a cafe—writing my blog (and enjoying my free venti mocha Frappuccino).

Today, as you may know, is my birthday and, according to yesterday’s post, my calendar starts over. Actually, I’ve never really treated my birthday as a new year, though I can’t quite believe I haven’t.

But today, a lunar eclipse on my solar return affects a kind of erasure—a clean slate.

And sitting mask free in a public space at the end of a shut-in 15 months, on the cusp of a freeing summer, I am considering my options for the day, the season, and the year.

Just considering. Because what I know for sure is that today is not a day for deciding; it’s a day for indulging in all the sweet, satisfying experiences the year can bring.