The Northern Lights

Have you ever been up north? How far? Have you ever seen the northern lights?  The northern lights are one of several astronomical phenomena also called the polar lights. It is an incredible color dance across the night sky.
I was born in the north of Russia and my childhood was spent in a small military town on the Kola Peninsula. I remember when I saw the polar lights for the first time. It was in 1976 and I was ten years-old. 

What about that day?  It was a late winter evening. The town was sleeping under a white snow blanket. Our five-floor houses stood in a circle and formed a large area where children could be seen playing by their parents. In fact, the arrangement of the buildings was designed to resist the constant strong winds in that region. My friends and I were playing in the courtyard. One of us noticed the northern lights on the horizon. They were moving and slowly they approached us. When they floated above us, we all laid down on the snow to watch the spectacular view. We were surrounded by an incredible silence; all we could hear was our breath and heart beats. Sometimes we felt a cold breeze, but we did not feel cold because we always dressed warm.  My fur coat protected me very well. While I was lying on the snow, I thought that my life was infinite just as the sky was. I was thinking about the distant future. I thought that by the year 2000 I would be 34, and I thought I would have 2 children, like my mom, I would be older than my mom was and in front of me all of eternity.

The northern lights stood above of us for a while, waved their wings a couple of times and slowly  dissolving into the night sky. We were in awe, so we continued to lie on the snow.  We quietly pondered our lives

It was really unforgettable as it was a breathtaking view.

Today it’s the year of 2015, and I’m much older than 34. I only have one child, and I don’t think that my life is infinite like the sky any more.

Have you ever been up north? How far? Have you ever seen the northern lights?  If your answer is “Yes, I’ve seen them”, count your blessings. You are never going to forget it.

This was my beautiful story from the distant past.