Eclipse Guests
Buds' best friend from undergrad, Peter, and wife Val, drove over to spend the eclipse weekend with us. Though the clouds thwarted our "ooh, ahh," hopes, we had a fantastic visit and made great memories.
We hadn't been together for several years, but we enjoy any time we get, and P and I both love to tease Buds in that way decades of memories allows you to. Peter and Buds wrestled together as well as sharing a friend group off the mat, so Peter knows Buddie's likes and quirks, too.
Mocha also adored having extra animal lovers in the house. They even let her sleep with them one night since Buds and I were settled in the attic.
Val and Pete own a manual Mini Cooper, which is Yessa's dream car. With very big eyes, she got Buds to ask if she could have a lesson driving it.
They graciously agreed, so while Buds worked on Monday morning, Val, Pete, Yessa, and I drove over to MCC to the parking lots where Yessa first learned to drive for this next level of driving lesson.
Val spent time the night before thinking through the best way to explain driving a stick to Yessa and she was patient and thoughtful and so very kind. There was an exciting moment right at the beginning when the car was in 3rd gear as Yessa attempted to start driving. After that shocking jounce forward, squeal of the clutch, and the burning smell dissipated, Yessa proved to be a pro.
Val let me drive home to show Yessa I did remember how to drive a clutch, plus I love driving one so much.
Then after lunch and chatting, it was time to head to Cobbs Hill Park for the eclipse.
Renee and Victor were already settled in up there so we found them and got stretched out in preparation for whatever we could experience of the eclipse. It was cloudy with no chance of meatballs or an eclipse, so we decided to be amazed by what we could see.
As we were waiting for the eclipse to darken the skies, the apartment complex across the road provided some mild excitement with a brief smoky fire on the grassy knoll behind the complex. The fire trucks came roaring up and we all got to armchair fire chief as they pulled in the wrong entrance and then made their way to the correct spot.
After the fire was quickly extinguished, the fire trucks turned off all their lights, but stayed on the hill so the crew could experience the eclipse in one spot, too.
After that excitement, the wait for darkness continued. It got darker and colder, and it was good to be gathered on a hill with friends and family.
I took some video, and Buds made a beautiful montage.
After the eclipse we had time for VR, Jack Box games, food and laughter.
We were all sorry when it was time for Pete and Val to head back to Jersey. It was so good to be together.
