There are a lot of events that I cannot understand why people make such a big deal about it. Anything relating to the royal family, award shows, or the Met Gala are at the top of the list. I just don’t understand why people make a big deal about these things.

And then, on April 9, a new event was added to that puzzling group: the solar eclipse.

They say the eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event but it’s happened twice in mine, and it’s scheduled to happen again in 20 years.

The 2017 eclipse caught my attention more than the April one did, and I still remember watching the news coverage while I was down at the shore, where they talked about the different do-it-yourself eclipse glasses you could create from everyday household items – only to be told hours before that you should in no way use these contraptions, and if you do, it would not end well for you.

Regardless, it was an exciting time for the almost 10-year-old me who had never before seen this natural phenomenon.

But 7 years have passed, and I’m more jaded now.

Personally, I think part of the reason that I am less than enthusiastic about the eclipse now is the fact that I watch the news more than I did when I was 10, so in the weeks leading up to the eclipse I was inundated with wall-to-wall coverage about how the eclipse would impact the areas where you could see it, as well as stories of people who had traveled the world to places where the sun will be covered in totality. Hearing something being talked about nonstop for weeks on end takes the excitement away from the actual event.

Another big part of why I was over the eclipse before it even began was the constant reminder not to look directly at the sun. Now, I was always told not to stare directly at the sun and thought that everyone was told the same. I understand why the constant reminders were given but that didn’t make me lose faith in humanity any less.

As I was leaving school on the day of the eclipse, I watched almost every one of my fellow students holding those cardboard eclipse glasses to their eyes and staring up into the sky. It amazed me that so many people were excited about the eclipse, especially because I looked at it in a far more pessimistic way. It was slightly darker than it should have been at 2 P.M. on a Monday in southern Pennsylvania. How is that any different than the typical weather during April in our area?

Now who knows how I’ll feel about the eclipse in 2044, when this supposedly once-in-a-lifetime event happens for the third time in my life. My 37-year-old self could think that it’s the coolest thing to ever happen. But I can definitely tell you that my current 2024 self never wants to hear about an eclipse ever again.