I'm grateful to be here to witness all the beauty of this world.

Yesterday was quite a day. One of those jam-packed days at the 9-to-5 where you feel like you’ve done a week’s worth of work in a single day. But it was also the kind of workday that ended with me feeling incredibly happy and accomplished. As I was standing on my front porch in the evening, the rolly-polly-ist of raccoons came to my front step to say hi before adorably wobbling off. 

 
Then my Aurora app alerted me there was a super-low chance the Northern Lights might be visible in my area, but living in the middle of a brightly lit city like Chicago, I initially discounted it. Until I saw the slew of posts from friends who were seeing them within the city limits, which spurred me to walk over to the nearest park in hopes of catching a glimpse. 
 

Unfortunately, for some reason, a Chicago police SUV was parked there with its brights on, so I was about to give up until I realized that the church parking lot near my place might have enough open space with minimal light pollution for my needs. After getting there and initially seeing nothing, suddenly a brilliant and shimmering red stripe of aurora borealis popped up overhead, and I spent the next 10 minutes alternately gazing up in awe and snapping lots of photos. 

I couldn’t believe how bright the Northern Lights were, visible to the naked eye without the aid of an extended camera exposure, and the experience filled me with wonder and joy, and I got that super intense pleasurable tingle from an experience you’ve truly never had before. I’ve been trying to hold onto that sensation for as long as possible, before it just fades into an experiential memory.
 
It took me an hour or so to come back down from that natural high, but once I did I settled in to watch Dracula A.D. 1972, a film recommended by my partner that I hadn’t yet finished, and it was the grooviest end to a truly remarkable day.
 
Our times are currently incredibly turbulent and uncertain, but days like yesterday remind me why we keep moving forward. It’s a beautiful world out there, and we only have so long to experience it. And me? I’m glad I’m alive to do so.