Did you see the 2017 total solar eclipse? By all accounts, it was an amazing event. We had a cool experience, too, but it could have been so much better. Unfortunately, this is one of those life lessons learned the hard way.

Our family does not live in the path of totality, but we are only an hour away from where it all happened. Yes, we had our glasses and we took some cool pictures and video, and we got to see a 99% eclipse. But that tiny 1% made a huge difference.

All we had to do was drive an hour south and we could have experienced the full package. So why didn’t we go? Traffic! We fell for the hype.

Originally I thought we could get in our van early Monday morning, drive down the freeway and just pull off to watch the eclipse in a nearby parking lot. As soon as it ended we could jump back into the van and head home.

It seemed like a good plan and I thought it would be a great experience for our family to enjoy together. Then the reports of a “traffic nightmare like no other” started flooding in.

Every time we watched or read the news, the reports got worse. Traffic officials warned that this would be “the worst traffic event in the history of the state of Oregon.” They said it would be worse than anyone could even imagine. Thoughts of being stranded on the freeway for eight hours started to curb my enthusiasm.

So we decided that 99% was good enough and we just drove up the street to an open field and watched it there. We also watched a lot of the news coverage and it didn’t take long to realize we missed out. And we started to regret it.

We also learned that even after all the warnings about a traffic apocalypse, it really didn’t start to get that bad until a couple hours after the eclipse was over. That made us feel even worse. Our original plan would have worked.

It’s not like a total solar eclipse will never happen again. The next one in the U.S. will be in April of 2024. I was also alive for the last one in 1979. I distinctly remember it taking place while I was in elementary school.

The teachers gave us very strict directions about keeping our glasses on and then they took us outside in the middle of class. I don’t really recall what the eclipse looked like but I remember it got really dark.

Anyways, the point is this probably won’t be the last eclipse we’ll have the opportunity to see. But let’s be honest, this was right in our neighborhood and the chances of us ALL being together for a total solar eclipse again are very slim.

I’m afraid that this could have been one of those moments that our family would never forget. Now, it might be one of those moments that we’ll always say “what if?”

Our only option now is to focus on the positive and learn from our experience. We did enjoy seeing the 99% and we will remember it, but we’ve already decided if we ever have a legitimate opportunity to see a total solar eclipse again, we won’t miss it.