Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought of the Aurora Borealis as one of the greatest wonders of the natural universe. Seeing the Aurora was one of the things I was most excited to do in Alaska. So last night, when the General Manager and Business Manager’s daughter called me at 10:30 pm and told me there were green lights dancing in the night sky, I almost squealed.
In an instant the longness of the day disappeared. I quickly printed out the story I was working on and rushed out of the station. I didn’t even look up when I was outside because I was so excited to get home and wake everyone up.
The other volunteers and I had made a blood pact: if there was a hint of color in the night sky, we were going to see it– no matter how cold it was, no matter how late it was, and no matter how early we had to be up the next morning. So even though the house was dark and quiet, I knocked on everyone’s bedroom doors. And as soon as Lucus, Josh, Margaret and Dayneé heard the good news, their groggy faces lit up. We all threw on warm layers, grabbed our cameras, and ran outside, giddy to see the Northern Lights.
Well, at first, we couldn’t see much. There was a long streak of silver silky clouds that could be green, maybe, from a certain angle. So we piled in the car and drove through the deserted, dark town and as we headed towards the mountains, the streak started to change. We were getting excited. The silvery cloud was becoming clearer, and moving, and when we finally made it to the top of an empty hill, it was fully green and beautiful.
Seeing the Aurora was beyond description. Green and pink streams were slowly falling and lifting like rivers of light and we were goofy with joy. We skipped and jumped and hopped, Dayneé and I held hands and twirled in circles, and all five of us lay down on the cold permafrost and marvelled at the dancing Aurora. Josh said it was like seeing Narnia, if the magical wardrobe was a freezer.
I don’t think any of us will be able to forget that sight.
