11.21.23 // The Aurora

The Aurora.
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I've been dreaming about her since I was little.
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I dreamt of lights that danced in the sky with colors like ribbons twisting on a pitch-black canvas. I imagined standing under her mystery in pure awe as she performed in concert with the shooting stars that streamed across her lights and faded into darkness.
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And finally, in Alaska, I experienced her magic. It wasn't the pinnacle performance I had dreamt of, but she was stunning.  
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My journey to find the Aurora was not an easy one. While she danced in the sky each night we were in Alaska, Fairbanks stayed squarely stuck under low thick clouds that obscured the brilliant lights.
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On one of the last nights of the trip, while most of us enjoyed dinner, our fearless leader stayed head down with a look of determination on his face, staring intently at his iPhone. It turned out he was checking space weather and satellite imagery to find us the best opportunity to escape the blanket of clouds. And by the end of dinner, we had an Airbnb booked next to Denali National Park and a 2-and-a-half-hour car ride ahead of us. We drove into the night and through the eventual snow that billowed around some of the darkest roads I've ever been on. 18-wheelers would blow past us creating white-out conditions, but we pushed forward, ever closer to the place where we held our hope to catch a performance.
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Thanks to quick pivoting, the hope held out. When we arrived within range of the park, white light started to glow on the horizon. As we kept trekking closer, the clouds thinned and the slow settings of the camera picked up the color and the ribbons of light.
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Pulling over, I stood in awe, even through the cloud coverage, she was there, the Aurora was dancing in front of me. I felt out of body, out of mind, and deep in soul. I had never felt so present and small and yet felt so expansive and endless.
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It felt like years leading up to this moment, a single stint of standing under her glory to leave me both fulfilled and needing more... And as we left, I felt like she was already calling me back, to stand in the snow like sugar, the wind like ice, the quiet like a song, and bask in the magic of the Aurora.