Supposed to shake our booties and let loose a little.
Unfortunately, 6:30 hit and both Loo and I embarrassingly admitted that we were exhausted from the previous week.
We then convinced ourselves that the bar the band we wanted to see would be playing at tonight was preferable to the bar they were going to be playing at last night.
I still think that might be at least kind of true.
Either way, we decided to throw in the towel on our Friday night out on the town, and opt instead for Saturday night out on the town.
Because it turns out, we may be getting old. And Friday nights are best spent in bed. Catching up on sleep and the DVR!
It was as I was crawling into bed at the late hour of 9:30 that I thought to check the Northern Lights predictor though.
Way back when the ex and I were still happy-in-love, he used to play this game with me. This game where he would start sentences off with “When you dump me…” I hated this game. It was based entirely upon the fact that I had never been in a real relationship until him, and upon my admission to him that my singledom up to that point had been completely by choice. There had been plenty of men. I just hadn't ever wanted more than a good time from any of them.
I had told him this for 2 reasons. One, I had wanted him to know that he was something special to me. That I hadn’t let many people into my heart, and he was the only man in my life I had ever really wanted more from. And two, because I was terrified of what we had. Because every day it got better, it scared me more. I had needed him to know that. To know that I wasn’t really equipped for what we were doing. That I had never done it before. That I had no idea how to really be in a relationship at all.
I had needed him to know that the fast rate at which our lives were becoming entwined with each other's scared the hell out of me.
But even though I knew this game of his was played in jest, I hated it. Because it felt like poking fun at the very real fears I had revealed to him. And it felt like his way of testing the waters as well. Of seeing how close I was to leaving. Even though I swore up and down I wasn’t going anywhere.
Until I did.
Either way, one day we were talking about how desperately I wanted to see the Northern Lights. I had only been in town for about 6 months, and my first winter was just kicking off. At the time, I had no idea how infrequent viewings were in Anchorage. I felt sure that I would be seeing the lights any day now. That my world was about to be rocked by the natural beauty of Alaska.
My world has certainly been rocked many times since by all that Alaska is, but the lights have remained elusive.
And so as we were having this discussion, the ex made me a promise. “When you dump me…” he began. “I promise I’ll still call you whenever I see the lights. I’ll make sure you get out and get to see them for yourself. No matter who you’ve moved on to and are dating then, I'll make sure you know the lights are out.”
I’m pretty sure I punched him in the arm, and then went about describing in great detail everything else in Alaska I still needed to see.
And after I did dump him, for a few months I waited. Wondering if I would get that text out of nowhere and when I least expected it. Letting me know that the lights were dancing in the sky. And that no matter where I was, what I was doing, or who I was with – I needed to get outside and see them.
That text never came, although many others did. It was simply that the lights didn’t make an appearance. That not once, in the last 3 years, have they been visible in the Anchorage sky.
Until a few nights ago that is. When I was curled up in bed, fast asleep and dreaming of who knows what. The Northern Lights decided to show up.
I woke up to Facebook messages and texts from plenty of friends proclaiming that they had seen the lights, while I slept peacefully away in my bed.
And I was bitter. How had I missed them? How had I slept through them? Would I ever get the chance to see them again?
Well, the next night they did show up again. And at 10:30 Loo called me and asked if I wanted to walk out into the woods with her to get a better view. It being a weeknight, and Loo living a good 20 minutes away from me, I passed. But I did get in my car and try to drive away from the streetlights a bit. Hoping for a glimpse myself.
Half an hour later, and after seeing nothing, I came home.
Loo informed me that she had been able to get a peak, but that they had been faint. And they had quickly grown fainter after she had initially spotted them.
Not worth getting out of bed, according to her.
Still, I’ve been hoping. Crossing my fingers that they would come back as good as they had been Wednesday night. That I would get to see them for myself. That I would maybe even get to take a picture or two. Something to remember for the day, when and if, that I no longer call Alaska home.
So last night, I checked the predictor. And I watched it as it looked like perhaps the lights were heading our way. I waited and waited, reasoning that it was a weekend and if I wound up out until the middle of the night chasing the Northern Lights, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
But at midnight, when they had moved no closer than about 2 hours north, I finally closed my laptop up and went to bed.
I was talking to a guy who told me that the lights come in cycles. I want to say he mentioned 7 year cycles, but I could be wrong on the exact denomination there. Either way, he explained to me that the last few years we’ve been on a down cycle. He said that’s the explanation for why there has been nothing to see up to this point. But he said we’re starting to move into an up cycle, and that more and more – they will become visible over the next few years.
I can only hope he’s right. Cross my fingers that I’ll get a chance to see the lights before my time in Alaska ends.
Because really, I do think that’s one of those things that we should all hope to see at least once.
Loo and I are getting ready for our girls night out tonight. Gussying ourselves up, and putting our dancing shoes on. I’m ready. Excited for a night out, and for time spent flirting with random boys at random bars.
It’s been a while.
But even more, I’m hopeful that if we bide our time indoors imbibing in a little drinking and dancing, we may get our shot tonight to see what I’ve been waiting for the last 3 years to see. We may just walk out into something truly amazing.
Fingers crossed and wishes made.
Maybe tonight will be the night…
