Good Morning My Confidants!
I hope it is lovely where you are today, especially if you are in the path of the eclipse.
Here in Kansas City, we are going to have gorgeous weather. Sunny, high of 74°, And we are getting a 89.8% eclipse. Rounding it up to 90%. Pretty awesome. I can't remember one that near complete, although I remember once it getting pretty dark.
I am both casual about it, and terribly excited at the same time. Bi-Solar I guess. LOL!
RBear seems to be out of his overtime—thank goodness—and he has today off for sure, so we can watch it together. I wish Noah didn't have to work. This is going to be magickal, and I wish we all three got to see it together.
I've heard that you should leave pets indoors during the near completion, not that they are going to look at the sun or anything, but the near dark could freak them out? I can't imagine it bothering our dogs. They probably won't even notice. Or certainly care really.
Chances are they will be inside anyway and RBear and I might go view the eclipse at a friend's house—a friend of mine from my Wednesday night support group—but who knows?
That's the casual part.
This might be the last one I have the opportunity to see. I know we've missed them because of the weather.
You know, in the midst of all the crazy stuff there is something kind of magickal about our moon and sun.
Did you ever stop to think that our moon is exactly the right size that in its orbit it all but exactly blocks the sun? It isn't "bigger" or "smaller." I mean, what are the odds? It must be astronomical. And I am sure those who like math could figure it out, but I don't really care. It's just once I was aware of this, I couldn't help but be awed.
The current tally of moons orbiting planets in our solar system is 293: One moon for Earth; two for Mars; 95 at Jupiter; 146 at Saturn; 28 at Uranus; 16 at Neptune; and five for dwarf planet Pluto. And we are the only planet that moon exactly covers the sun. Sure there are many, many eclipses in our solar system. Eclipses of Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars, can lead to spectacular annular, but not total, solar eclipses. **
So Martians or Jovians or Saturnians would never see an eclipse like we do. The moons that passed in front of the sun would either be too "small" or too "large," moving in front and either be silhouetted or be "bigger" and totally hide the sun.
The fact that solar eclipses happen at all is a bit of a numerical coincidence. It just so happens that the Sun is approximately 400 times larger than the Moon and also 400 times more distant from the Earth. So, even though the Moon is much smaller than the Sun, it is just close enough to Earth to appear the same size as the Sun when seen from Earth. ***
Pretty amazing.
AND according to an article entitled "What are the chances of life on other planets in our solar system?," the probability of a given habitable planet ever developing a species must be less than 2.5*10^-24. So, for Earth to have been the only habitable planet hosting a species must be less than 1.7*10^-11. This is around 1 in 60 billion. ****
It makes me stop and think...what are the odds that the Universe has made the totally unique being that is you or me?
Apparently, Dr. Ali Binazir says that the probability of [me] existing at all comes out to 1 in 10 2,685,000 — yes, that's a 10 followed by 2,685,000 zeroes! The path begins with the odds of your dad meeting your mom (1 in 20,000). This is multiplied by the chances of them staying together long enough to have kids (1 in 2,000), and so on... Binazir concludes that the odds of you being alive are basically zero.*****
Wow!
So that is pretty f*cking crazy!
And then think about our individual talents and what we have to offer the Universe! Like snowflakes, we are totally unique. We are special.
During my "Dark Time," I wondered if my husbands really loved me or cared that much about me and if they thought about just hitting the road and being a duo rather than a trio. But it has finally hit me that if not only one, but two men are willing to not only put up with my craziness and wild eccentricities, but to clearly do things for me that can only be because they love me, then I need to stop putting myself down. I mean, over the weekend, Noah was willing to drive twenty minutes to help MY friend load her truck with some stuff that needed to be moved to another location. He was totally given an out, and he did it anyway. And they both indulge me, even though I must frustrate the hell out of them both. So again, if not only one, but two men want me as their mate, then I must be special.
I need to start thinking of myself that way again.
We are all special.
We are all special!
We are all special, do you hear me?
Every one of us. Every single one!
So let's not waste us, what do you say? Let's all live! Live our best lives and our best selves. Let's be thrilled and overjoyed at every breath. Or to paraphrase something I said yesterday, this is the self that the Universe has given us, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
No matter the color of our skin, our gender, our size, our age, and dreams and talents, let us rejoice in who and what we are. I plan on it.
And wasn't Oscar Wilde rumored to have said, "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."? It doesn't matter if he said it or not, it is still the truth.
And I believe we are proof that there is a God, due to all those odds! I believe, personally, that we are Divine Expressions of God, who lives through us, as us.
If you believe that last part or not, believe this: The odds that you exist, as you are, and who you are, is for all intents and purposes ZERO. But you do. I do.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Namasté,
BG "Gentle Ben" Thomas
* How Many Moons Are in Our Solar System?: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moons/
** NASA Rover Captures What A Solar Eclipse Looks Like On Mars: https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/nasa-rover-captures-what-a-solar-eclipse-looks-like-on-mars-ea58403141fb
*** The Slightly Weird Mathematical Coincidence Behind an Eclipse: https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-slightly-weird-mathematical-coincidence-behind-an-eclipse/
**** What are the Chances of Life on Other Planets in Our Solar System?: https://theglobestalk.com/chances-life-on-other-planets/
***** The Odds Of You Being Alive Are Incredibly Small: https://www.businessinsider.com/infographic-the-odds-of-being-alive-2012-6#:~:text=The%20probability%20of%20you%20existing%20at%20all%20comes,odds%20of%20you%20being%20alive%20are%20basically%20zero
You are more than one in a million!!🤣Happy Eclipse Day!