Total Eclipse

...  and we pretty much missed it, even though the view from Guam was supposed to be one of the best in the world. Makes me feel like a lame home schooling mom. At least I knew that there was an eclipse coming since my high schooler told me. 

What is amazing is how exact the predictions about the timing are.  We read online that the eclipse would begin at 10:47; at 10:52, I stepped outside and saw the very beginning of the earth’s shadow blocking just a nip of the bright face of the moon.  I went back in and tried to wake up the older boys, but they had been up since 4 am, and were immovable, even though they had only been in bed about half an hour.  Before retiring for the night, we had made plans to set our alarms at midnight, but I didn’t hear my watch alarm, and my oldest accidentally set his alarm for 12 noon.  And my husband decided not to set his alarm.

So we slept.

It had been an early morning for us all, since we participated in the USO’s Run for the Heroes. The whole family did something: My husband, oldest son, youngest son, and I ran; the two middle boys passed out water with their boy scout troop, and the girls collected the stubs from the runners’ numbers for the raffle prize drawings. They also somehow edged their way into helping with the drawings.

It must have been our lucky day because not only did we take home some t-shirts, but I won a bottle of wine, my youngest son won a gift card to the office supply store for singing “Baby, baby, baby, O,” and our neighbor’s friend ended up giving us the bike he won.  There are generous souls in the world.

We tried to give back a little later in the day by volunteering at the Christmas dinner for foster kids on Guam.  The statistics are that there are over 200 kids in foster care, but only 31 foster families, so most of the kids are in group homes, the orphanage or with family members.  The turnout for the dinner wasn’t great, but two of the shelters on the island brought the kids that live with them, and a number of families came.  They were able to leave with loads of “balutin” or take-home boxes, because more people were expected than came. 

Donations of toiletries, laundry detergent, and clothes, and goody bags with art supplies and treats were also sent back to the shelters.  We had made centerpieces of stryofoam trees and candy, which the kids took away, also.  The foster families’ cars were loaded down.

I was moved by the sight of several foster babies being carried in slings and snuglis by their foster moms.  Although I haven’t quite felt called to have another baby, I could see us opening our home to a small child who needed a temporary home.  One of our friends here has become a foster parent, and she said we have too many kids of our own to participate in the program, but we could be trained to do respite care for other foster parents. Apparently you need to have a room for a foster child. We already had to sign a waiver with the base housing office to allow us to have our 2 oldest in a room together, so I’m sure housing wouldn’t be thrilled for us to have 3 in a room. 

But as of now I haven’t taken any action.  It’s easy to have ideas and good intentions, harder to act on them.

The event was a joint effort between the Catholic and Protestant communities on base, and the Baptist Church out in town.  I’m glad I acted on this idea - I think the volunteers enjoyed the event as much as the families, especially since we got to eat the good food also.  That sweetened the deal for my kids who weren’t especially happy about giving up their whole day to work. But they ended up having a good time running around making balloon animals and passing out candy canes.

So it is understandable that they couldn’t keep their eyes open for the eclipse. 

In a way they did experience an eclipse -- as they complained this evening getting ready for bed, they had no time for what they wanted to do.  Family time usurped the whole weekend.  Their opportunity for video games and movies was eclipsed on Sunday by tree decorating and a trip to the Guam Symphony Orchestra’s “Christmas by the Sea” concert.  Again, we had to bribe the kids with tasty picnic food – Pringle’s! Pepperoni! store cookies! They grumped around the whole car ride, but listened in between snacking, once we got to the park and set up our chairs and blanket.   I tried to find something Christmasy to wear, but most of my red things are long-sleeved or velvet – not tropical holiday wear.

From people watching, I discovered that holiday wear here is a tropical shirt or muumuu in red and green. And rain does nothing to slow anything down.  A downpour opened up on us about half way through the concert.  The orchestra was under the shell, so the people in the park just pulled out their umbrellas or huddled under their picnic blankets. And the show went on, pausing only for a visit from Santa in a carabao pulled sleigh. 

As Santa threw candy, his dark hair was visible. My middle son asked
if there was a "Santa Fail" blog. 

The opening act: the UOG jazz ensemble

The unhappy audience.

Shelter from the storm