Last night there was a total eclipse of the moon. It was also the shortest day of the year - Winter Solstice. It was an event not to be missed. The next time the heavens assemble themselves in this particular configuration we will all be old and feeble or dead. The last time this happened none of us had been born yet. Who wouldn't want to see and experience such a singular event? The excitement has been building for days. What will be revealed? What will be changed? The Druids are probably spinning in their graves.
  I remember another event that occurred when I lived in Maui. We had a house on Maalea bay - our back yard was right on the water. There was a tsunami warning. We were told to evacuate to higher ground. While listening to the reports of the oncoming cataclysm we tried to gather our most important belongings and save all our animals. We tried to put the cats in a box but they wouldn't cooperate and escaped amid a flurry of fur, claws and blood. Maybe the cats knew something we didn't. As we listened anxiously to the reports of the oncoming swell a funny thing happened. As the wave approached us it got smaller and smaller. 30 feet ...20 feet ...10, 9, 8... We went outside to witness the terrible event, a radio counting down the time to arrival. We stared at the horizon with hopeful surfers who had headed towards the ocean hoping to ride this once in a lifetime wave. The radio counted 3-2-1, we looked at the waves. There was no visible change. Maybe one tiny wavelet. We had survived the six inch tsunami.
  I went outside last night to watch the lunar eclipse. It was so cloudy I couldn't even see the moon. No epiphany. Just wet shoes. I think I heard the cats laughing.