It was 5:30 am when I opened my eyes. We were suppose to gain an hour of sleep and yet it seemed to be quite the opposite. The sun was already lighting up the contours of Mont Rougemont with the most beautiful and deepest burnt orange. I had seen the moon rise in front of our house and knew that if I wanted to see it set, I would have to be to the other side of the mountain. It must have been just after 6:00 am, when I decided to get dressed in a hurry and go in search of the Lunar Eclipse.

I left too late and had to stop first to Google the Moon location and then to find my Compass App. I knew I would have to go, more or less, in the direction of St-Hubert Airport. On the radio, just before 6:30 a.m… I heard that if we hadn’t already seen it… we would have to wait for the next one… in 2025! Yep!!!
As I was driving, I thought that all could not be lost and that if I did miss the Eclipse, I might catch a glimpse of my Airport Foxes. It seems that they too, were up too late!

Of course…I couldn’t help but think about that 6th grade Moon Observation Assignment, I never completed. 10 years old and, I was way too busy. Totally useless it was, I had decided! The night before it was due, thinking it would be easy, I made the roughly 30 or so drawings of the growing moon crescents, which I thougt, would have to grow just a little bigger every day. Go figure why I did not managed to fool the teacher, who required that my uncompleted assignment, be signed by my parents! Insulted to my core… of being caught in this act of pure laziness. I wrote on the first page (a little too strongly), before erasing it, that it was MTI (Méthode de Travail Inutile… Useless Work Method!) Oh my!!! Really!!! I could only think that if only I had done this homework, I would probably have managed to find the Moon…before the end of the Eclipse! It would take me over 40 years to figure that out!

What I would have seen… If I had been there… in time !

At 6:31 am I took a picture of the airport sky and that although I could not see it, I like to believe the moon was still there… just below the horizon!

As I got back in my car, I realized that my early morning excursion had not been in vain!
All this time, the Sun was there, behind me, trying to get a glimpse at the Eclipse, waiting for me to turn around!