It was awe-some.

Millions of American’s watched Monday’s total eclipse, a rare astronomical event that won’t return until 2044.

We stood shoulder to shoulder with family, friends, neighbors and strangers as the moon completely blocked the sun's bright face and turned day into night for a few minutes.

A typical spring afternoon went dark. Birds stopped chirping. The temperature dipped.

It was a communal alignment with nature, a rare moment of unity among observers of its path. A time to forget our political and philosophical difference and come together as one.

“It is kind of indescribable,” Butler’s Sarah Curran told the Eagle. “When it crossed and the final sliver was gone, it was like turning all the lights out in your house in an instant. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever looked at.”

Curran traveled to an airfield in Medina, Ohio, with her two sons to witness the cosmic event. Medina was in the path of totality, meaning the moon totally covered the sun. Butler County experienced a partial eclipse, with about 98% totality.

It was the first total solar eclipse visible in the United States since 2017. That one was the first total eclipse to touch the “lower 48” since 1979 and the first to span the U.S. from coast to coast since 1918.

On Earth, we are just a bunch of primates, seemingly so advanced in intelligence and power, yet awed in the face of the profound.

It was heartening to see us sitting on lawns, gazing skyward waiting for the sun to reemerge after its brief absence, and, hopefully signaling a brighter future.

Democrat or Republican; Black or white; rich or poor; urban or rural — none of it mattered as we watched in amazement.

Maybe it takes a celestial event to bring this country together,. Even though the eclipse lasted mere minutes, it felt good to see us connected for a common purpose.

Let’s keep that connection alive.

— JGG