Three minutes before the time, we situated ourselves at our usual lookout point nearby the 36th Avenue beach. As it predicted, the ISS appeared just after 6:59pm above a giant cypress tree. It went straight according to its charted route towards us. It was right above us for about a couple of seconds, bright and proud. I was on the point of wondering why it was predicted to be a short view this time, since it was right on top of the sky, and ready to proceed eastward, when suddenly the ISS was gone and seen no more.
Later, we realized that the ISS abruptly disappeared because, right after reaching it's zenith in the sky, the Earth's shadow interceded, and cast the ISS into darkness. Otherwise, We would have seen it continuing eastward, and followed it's usual gradual dimming as it got further and further away, until it blinked out of sight at around 900 miles distant.
The abrupt behavior of ISS departure is interesting. It shows the accuracy of its ISS Tracker App schedule. It also displays the unpredictability of everything. Not everything has a beginning, middle/peak, and ending. Sometimes, the middle/peak is the ending. We need to look at our world with flexibility and accept people as they are. Sometimes short but bright is equally excellent.
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