some things just need their own post

It’s Sunday night. I just got back to Ukhta from a two-day trip to the region’s capital, Syktyvkar. I’m drinking something marketed as grape juice that tastes exactly like Juicy Juice. I have two more days of weekend ahead of me, because this Tuesday is International Women’s Day.

I could talk a lot about any of that.

But all I can think about is I saw the Northern Lights.

Yes, you heard me right. I saw the Northern Lights, and I watched them for about an hour, and my feet almost fell off from cold, and I definitely tipped over into a snowbank from spinning, and I missed the dorm curfew by half an hour, but I saw the Northern Lights.

You can ask Vickie if listening to me pine six months for something I’ve never seen was worth it.

I think it was.

I had a kind of inkling that it might happen today. On our four hour car ride home from Syktyvkar, I kept an eagle eye out the window and prayed, and prayed… when we didn’t see anything on the car ride, I was a little disappointed, but there was still hope. That hope was stoked when German (our fearless driver and friend) suggested looking at stars in his telescope later.

So after an hour in the dorm, we left again, out to some field full of snow where I was certain we would get stuck and have to be helicoptered out. German and Andrei got out of the car to set up the telescope. I was still putting on my mittens when I heard,

“Сияние!”

I about cried.

Instead I got out of the car and stared, and didn’t speak, and stared, and almost fell over, and stared some more.

They started weak, very faint, very far away. Light, almost white. They came closer, sometimes more green, sometimes more white. Eventually they were immediately overhead, with shapes like the more elegant older sister of clouds, trailing out into tails to the north and the east.

And then they danced.

I think that’s when I fell over into a snowbank.

I didn’t get any pictures, and I didn’t really want any. I hope you’re not too upset. There are cooler pictures on the internet anyway.

God is really good, and really beautiful, and He does really good and really beautiful things.

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