I know it’s been a couple of weeks since I returned from my sojourn to the North of the planet … I know I said I wouldn’t do it … I know hearing about someone else’s holiday is about as boring as hearing someone talk about the dream they had the previous night … but I feel I have to write something about it, because being with my Mum aside, the experience was something very special.
If I’m being honest, I’d previously not given much thought to the Northern Lights.
Of course I knew about them, but it wasn’t something I’d ever had a massive desire to see … but thankfully my Mum did, which is why I am able to sit here and still feel blessed I have witnessed them.
It all started while we were having dinner in the restaurant [loosest sense of the word] and someone shouted, “They’re here”.
Out we trotted and looked up.
At first we didn’t see much, then we noticed a dark, dark green strip of light cutting a swathe through the night sky.
To be honest, you had to really concentrate because on first glance, you didn’t – and couldn’t – see much.
To be even more honest, my first impression was, “Is that it?”
After a few minutes, we went back into the restaurant, [1] because we needed to finish our meal and [2] it wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you felt was going to change your life.
20 minutes later, that opinion was turned on its head.
As we left the restaurant and exposed ourselves to the -27 degree temperature, the sky was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
It wasn’t just that I was looking up at a sky that had glowing streaks of green in it, but it was alive … dancing and flickering with a myriad of glittering colours that a peacock would be jealous of.
To be honest, I was transfixed.
More than that, I felt humbled.
I literally felt I was witnessing a higher power in action … something akin to the scene in ‘Close Encounters’ where the alien ships announce they are in the sky.
To be honest, it made me feel both very small and very happy – not just because my Mum was witnessing what she had always wanted to see – but because I hadn’t felt that sense of sheer wonderment in a very long time.
It was literally awe inspiring.
Huge and dramatic and yet graceful and delicate.
Everything about that trip was special, but for those few days I was in one of the most beautiful desolate places on earth – seeing nature in all it’s brutal and beautiful glory – it was something I’ll remember, treasure and feel empowered by, for the rest of my life.
If you haven’t already, I hope you have the chance to experience it.