Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The day I woke up at 3 to see the moon.

So yesterday morning there was a lunar eclipse. On the winter solstice no less. Which is rare. Like only happens once in a lifetime. Seriously. The last time this happened was 1638. And the next time? 2094. I looked it up. So that’s pretty neat. I’m glad I can say that I got to see the lunar eclipse that happened on the same day as the winter solstice in 2010. Because in 2094 I’ll be 112. And let’s face it. I’m not living that long.

But I kind of wish I had still been asleep at 3. Instead of awake and outside. For like the 15 minutes I stayed outside. Because it was damn cold and it was a orange glowy moon so really how long was I going to stand outside in the cold looking at that? 15 minutes. That’s how long.
My husband stayed awake for it. His theory was that if he went to sleep he’d never wake up and he really wanted to see it. Which is totally true. I knew I’d never make it awake that long so I went to bed early and told him to wake me up. Which, honestly, I didn’t think he’d actually be able to do because he can’t even wake me up when he’s having an asthma attack. I guess I really wanted to see this eclipse. But he was able to wake me up. And wake up I did. In almost like a funny panic. Like what the hell is happening. He said I shot up out of bed completely wide eyed and totally confused. I definitely remember it being funny the way I got up and there was totally a lot of drama behind it. Like I almost fell down our steps because I was walking down them with my hands over my eyes to block out the bright ass lights of my hallway. Not the smartest thing but I didn’t even trip on a step. I tripped at the lack of a step.

I think he was outside for it most of the time. And apparently “all the neighbors” were going to get up to see this too. Let me tell you how many neighbors were outside at 3 to see this. One. Which is what I expected because she, like my husband, isn’t working today. She tried to wake her husband, but he wasn’t having it. We tried calling the other neighbor because she asked, but no answer and we didn’t try too hard. The other neighbors had no plans on waking up. So there we sit. Outside. Middle of December. In the freezing ass cold. Looking at the moon. Which was really pretty. I will admit that. It was disappointing that it was cloudy, but there was a nice orange glowy ball up in the sky where the white moon from earlier in the evening had been. The article I read in the Washington Post said the stars looked vastly brighter but I don’t actually remember seeing any stars so I can’t vouch for that one. But it was a pretty sight to see and I am glad I got up to see it even though it totally messed up my schedule yesterday.

Because I couldn’t go back to sleep. I was back in bed by like 3:30. Maybe earlier. It’s hard to say because I didn’t really pay that much attention to the clock, but I know I was definitely not up and outside past 3:30. I laid there trying my hardest to go back to sleep until 4 when Steve finally came back to sleep. He said he should have waited to wake me up because it got prettier, but it is what it is. And I did get to catch a glimpse of it just as you could see the top of the white moon coming back into view. As I was heading straight for the coffee pot so I could brew half a pot. Just for myself. Which I drank. Before I was even at the office. I started my day around 4 this morning. Which is only half hour before my normal alarm of 4:30. But let’s be real here. I’m not out of bed on a regular day until about 5:10. (Ok, it’s 5:12 because of the snooze but who says something like I get up at 5:12.) I was actually out of the house and AT THE OFFICE before I would normally be leaving my house. That was a bummer. But really. It is kind of ok because I ended up having more time at home yesterday. Even though I came home and went straight to bed for a nap. An hour and a half nap. It was glorious but I really felt like I could have still been asleep. But I had to run out to do some Christmas shopping so that pulled me away from my cozy couch where I really wanted to be.

But hey, I got to see the lunar eclipse. So check that off my “list of things to do” and add it to my “list of things I’ll never have to do again.”

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, I totally didn't wake up to go out and see it..I should have tried the stay up until, but then I totally wouldn't have been up for work. And sleep is far cooler than the moon, right?

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  2. yeah I contemplated staying awake all night, but I had to go to work the next day so I knew that would be a bad idea. And yes, sleep is far cooler than the moon. Any day!

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