Notes from Steve

Today is the whole eclipse deal.  Ok, so the first one I remember was back in ’77 - I was in 7th grade, and we got the whole “don’t look at it - you’ll go blind*.”  It seems like a way bigger deal now.  (I did google “proof of people going blind by staring at the eclipse” and didn’t find anything, but I’m sure there’s a spark of truth there somewhere.)  I talked to a friend who said that she has traveled across America to witness three total eclipses.  Honestly, I’m somewhat jealous.  

I’ve read that with the earthquake in NYC, the Statue of Liberty being zapped by a lightning bolt, and this eclipse (plus a bunch of other stuff) - there exists a bunch of people out there who point to the fact that this is indeed the end of the world.  My favorite “end of the world” event was a party I threw back in 2012.  December 22, 2012 - to be exact.  It was a Saturday night, and I owned the bar under the restaurant Grounded in uptown Clarion.  We had an “End of the World party/Jingle Jam sing-along/ugly Christmas sweater contest” and played “The End of the World as I Know It” by REM every hour on the hour.  The world obviously didn’t end - but it made for a good story.  (I just read on Facebook that a favorite conspiracy theory out there is that “everything is going to be OK” … and I believe this whole-heartedly.)  

There will always be stories surrounding stuff that happens or didn’t happen (end of the world).  If you can make lemonade out of lemons - theme parties, traveling to witness nature, finding blessings in a pandemic, celebrations for celebration’s sake … more power to you.  Life is way too short not to embrace everything - the good, the bad, and “everything is going to be ok” …  Cheers, baby, cheers.

*I was a seventh grader; of course, I looked.