Week 4 - Love: Appreciate the universe with some stargazing or sky watching

If I could watch the sunset every day, I would. I absolutely love trying to predict whether the sun will paint the sky in pinks and purples. The key to getting Fitz to join me for a sunset is to be on a west-coast beach. A quick California vacation wasn’t in the cards this week but the Super Wolf Blood Moon lunar eclipse might be special enough to get Fitz to do some sky watching. However, it is January, and even in Phoenix, January nights get pretty cold. If we are going to be outside at night in the cold, it should be for something pretty spectacular, like seeing the Northern Lights. As cool as a Super Wolf Blood Moon sounds, I knew it wouldn’t live up to the hype.

Super: closest point in orbit to Earth

Wolf: full moon in January

Blood: total lunar eclipse

In other words, this might seem like a slightly larger or brighter lunar eclipse.

We would not be getting commemorative T-shirts.

I pulled out the favorite trick of all successful parents, teachers, and spouses: the choice between two options that are completely acceptable to you. “Fitz, would you like to go out to North Mountain at sunset to watch the full moon as it comes up or would you like to stay home and watch the lunar eclipse from the backyard from around ten o’clock to midnight?” He chose the eclipse as he had never really watched an eclipse and he could do it without going out. He even sounded a little excited about it. He would make dinner while I photographed the moon-rise and then we could eat dinner together and watch the eclipse.

During moon-rise, we had high clouds that were definitely obstructing the view. It was rather disappointing. Fitz chose wisely. I have learned to start at the top of the mountain and to come down the mountain to have more time to capture the moon along the horizon. I finally got a shot when the clouds had moved a bit to the side. I headed home to warm up and was excited to spend some quality time with Fitz.

We hung out in the kitchen, listening to good music while he carefully layered a sheet pan full of nachos. He made probably 12 servings of nachos while reminiscing about a bar in Colorado that sold sheet pan nachos. It looked like we would be feeding a football team. As he finished, I set up the tripod and camera in the backyard so we could watch the eclipse from the hammock. Wouldn’t it be romantic?

I walked back inside and Fitz was “resting his eyes” on the couch. I let him nap and figured I would wait until a late phase of the partial eclipse so he could see the transition to the total eclipse. I went to wake him up and was pleasantly surprised that he responded with, “Yes, I’m awake. I’m coming. I want to see it.”

He put his slippers on, came outside, looked up, said something about it looking cool. He hung out on the porch for a few minutes and came back out to see the change a few minutes later. (It looked pretty similar.) He was on his way back inside. “Don’t you want to see it go red? It should be just a few minutes.” His response reminded me of this classic:

He headed inside to get warm. The moon turned red and I snapped a few pictures and then the clouds came back. I checked back a few times, but the view was obstructed. No need to try to watch the later phases. I headed back inside, too.

I asked Fitz what he thought of the sky watching date and he said it was, “Life changing. Spectacular. It blew out my cortex.” He’s not one for hyperbole.

Next week: 5: Compromise: Visit a museum or historic site. Find one you both think you'll enjoy. If you have a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch credit or debit card, you can visit select museums for free the first weekend of every month during the "Museums on Us" program.