gabriel defazio
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be in the “Path of Totality” of the North American Solar Eclipse of 2017. Had I not booked the trip months ago to attend a cousin’s wedding and visit my family, I may not have taken a trip between these first weeks at Fullstack Academy. After all, the eclipse coincided with our first of three checkpoints in the Foundations Course. Completion of these comprehensive checkpoints is prerequisite to progressing in the course. Still, I had my tickets, and a solar event was something I always hoped to see.The day of the solar eclipse/checkpoint, my family and I made a trip to an optimal viewing spot, about two hours away from where they live in Tennessee. The car ride seemed like the only opportunity I’d have to complete the checkpoint in a relatively controlled space before my long overnight bus trip back to New York, so I set up a personal hotspot on my phone and cloned the checkpoint from github.

The day of the solar eclipse/checkpoint, my family and I made a trip to an optimal viewing spot, about two hours away from where they live in Tennessee. The car ride seemed like the only opportunity I’d have to complete the checkpoint in a relatively controlled space before my long overnight bus trip back to New York, so I set up a personal hotspot on my phone and cloned the checkpoint from github.

The checkpoint was testing our knowledge on things like foundational Javascript syntax and strategies, scope, closure, all things objects, functions that make other functions, and functions that construct objects.

I didn’t account for how my parents always bicker in the car, and I took my test to the tune of micromanaging and the sort of blame that arises between people when they get a little lost. At one point, the car even swerved a little and my mom admitted that she’d dozed for a second. Despite the regular obstacles of being in a family, I was able to complete my checkpoint with a half hour to spare. I am new at test driven development, and I sat there for a moment enjoying the green of all my tests before pushing my work back to the repository.

The testing framework we are using is called, “Jasmine”, which is the name of my sister and best friend. We grew up in a racist, homophobic, white-supremacist, little town in Central Florida, called Ocala. Jasmine created an alternate reality for us to live in which was full of magic, nature and imagination. She fiercely defended me when I was bullied or mistreated. She taught me how to laugh at myself as a shield against social scrutiny. We sang the loudest, if not worst, duets as we rode around in her small grey pick-up truck and when we were together, the world was good. It’s been fifteen years since I lost Jasmine to an autoimmune disease, and I still love her everyday.

Being with my family brings her to life in a special way, as no one but them knew her as I did — that’s what made it so important for me to come down and share this memory with them. I didn’t tell them about this digital Jasmine that had coldly tested my code, but, seeing her name as I was sitting behind my parents arguing about the speed limit, gave me a smile.

We pulled off in some abandoned firework store in the middle of nowhere off the interstate and my brother and his family met us there. The moon crossed the sun, and for more than two minutes it was night, except for the ring of light in the middle of the sky. My dad cheered in a way that might have embarrassed my when I was younger and we all hugged each other like it was New Year’s Day. Before the new sun shone, I thought of Jasmine and told her, in my heart, that I loved her.

It was a memory — a good memory — that my family will keep for the rest of our lives. My ten year old nephew thought it was neat, but is more likely to remember how I helped him climb a billboard, for which we both got in trouble. On the long bus home, I imagined a future me reminiscing of the first solar eclipse I experienced. I wondered if I would be a software engineer and if I’d remember how I’d been such a budding novice literally taking their first test that day?

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