Northern Lights

We missed the Friday night auroras because it was just a very rough night around here. So when I went outside on Saturday night at 11:00 and saw faint columns shimmering and glowing in the sky above the deck, I called The Banana away from her harp, and Mr. TOF came bounding down the stairs to see too because he had just been talking earlier with the neighbors who saw them the night before. We woke up YaYa who was trying to sleep on the couch.

Mr. TOF said that our neighbors had traveled out of the city to a darker place to see the brilliant and majestic show, but that the closest place to see them better was the soccer fields out of town. I looked at The Banana and said, “Let’s go!” We left YaYa at home with Peanut Maximus and Dr. Peds (who was on call) and hopped in the van for a little drive. It was so worth it! I’m sure they were still more brilliant in places that were more remote, but we could see so much better next to the soccer fields. Within a couple of minutes of arriving, we were inside a majestic dome, with dancing columns and shimmering sheets of lights all around us in every direction!

I had only seen the Northern lights once or twice, the best time being an amazing night in my third year of college. Neither The Banana or Mr. TOF had seen them ever, and they both were so happy to sky gaze.

When the auroras died down a bit we decided we probably should head back home. We packed ourselves back into the van, and I put on my glasses. There were several other vehicles parked on both sides of the side road by the soccer fields, so I knew I would need to drive down the road a bit and turn around, and then drive back past where all the people were parked, which was unfortunate because all the cars coming and going were trying to do their best to keep their headlights from being disruptive. Oh well.

Inside the car I couldn’t figure out why the interior lights were so dim. Was something wrong with the van’s battery? And as I was driving, it just didn’t seem like my headlights were doing a good job, even when we got back to the main road. I could barely see in front of the car. I tried switching them on bright and then dim, and nothing was really working very well. The Banana saw me tinkering with the headlight shifter, and I asked her, “What am I doing wrong? I can’t seem to turn these headlights on right?” (Sometimes when I’m driving the van I get the headlights and windshield wiper switches mixed up a little bit, so there is context for me asking this question).

She looks over at me more carefully and bursts out laughing! “Mom! Are you wearing your prescription sunglasses?”

Oh my gosh! I WAS! I tore them off my face and all the sudden the headlights were working perfectly! I could see everything! I put my regular driving glasses on. We could not stop laughing. I was laughing so much I could hardly drive.

I did feel a little bad, because I bet those lights were on bright the whole time I was driving on the side road past the other sky gazers trying to figure out why things looked so dim, and I was trying to be so careful to drive with only the security lights on, not the headlights.