Life Wayfaring is the section of my ‘maleta’ where I experiment, let my mind go wild, and push myself to the discomfort that brings growth.
Today, something I had been waiting to see for many years, finally happened.
I vividly remember being in the First Year of “Bachillerato" (High school) in my native Venezuela—the equivalent of grade 7 here—and excitedly flipping through my geography book. For some reason, geography fascinated me: the stories of how mountains were formed, the shifting of tectonic plates, and the great epochs of Earth’s history. And then, I stumbled upon a wonder: the Northern Lights. At the time, textbooks didn’t have photographs, only detailed illustrations. I would daydream about what they might look like in real life. But growing up in the tropics, the Aurora Borealis—its scientific name—was something I knew could only be witnessed near the Earth's poles.
Many years later, I moved to Canada. One night, while driving somewhere with my husband, I caught a glimpse of something green in the sky out of the corner of my eye. I pulled the car over and looked up. It was the Northern Lights. They were faint but unmistakably there, shifting and dancing across the sky. They glowed a green hue, like a computer screen. My then-husband and I stood watching them in awe, talking about the experience for some time. We dreamed of travelling to Nunavut someday to see them in their full glory.
But that dream never materialized.
Later, we moved to Nova Scotia, to a place where the night skies were breathtaking... when they were clear! Unfortunately, most of the time, whenever a celestial event was forecast, the skies would be overcast.
I shouldn’t complain, though. On clear nights, the Milky Way was dazzling in its entirety. Winter full moons, when snow blanketed the ground, were otherworldly. We saw the International Space Station cruise along the sky one night. We even had the chance to witness a spectacular total lunar eclipse (a blood moon), which finally allowed us to use the telescope I had bought for my 40th birthday. The details of the moon through that lens were simply astonishing.
But the Northern Lights? We never managed to see them again—or perhaps we did but didn’t recognize them at the time.
A while back, my son discovered that there was a high chance of seeing the Northern Lights. He did some research online, finding a location where we could have an unobstructed view of the northern horizon and minimal light pollution. So, at around 10:30 PM, we headed out, and two hours later, we reached the spot.
But once again, no Northern Lights.
Then, that huge flair from the sun happened, and the whole world saw the Northern Lights, except us because we didn’t know.
The third time’s the charm, right?
Tonight, my son came to me around 10:45 PM to tell me that gas prices were set to rise the next day—by 7 cents per litre (roughly 28 cents per gallon). As tired as I was, we hopped in the car to fill up the tank before the price hike.
I don’t keep notifications on for my phone, so I tend to miss messages until I manually check my apps. While I was confirming the gas price increase, I happened to see some pictures posted by a friend—pictures of the Northern Lights.
I remembered seeing something on the weather app about the Aurora forecast and mentioned it to my son. He suggested we go to Rainbow Haven, a nearby beach, and off we went.
We thought we’d have the place to ourselves, but when we arrived, it was packed! The biggest challenge was finding a dark spot away from the cars coming and going, but we managed. And the rest, as they say, is history—captured in the pictures I am adding here. The pictures are not great, but we weren’t really prepared. Hopefully, next time, I will use my tripod. Even then, you can appreciate how beautiful they were.
You might look for things for many years and think you will never find them. Always be prepared because one day, they will show up.
At last, we finally saw the Northern Lights. Next time, I hope to see them in Norway… or Nunavut.
Northern lights tonight
Wonder of colours above
Beautiful surprise
Welcome to my suitcase of memories and creativity. I’m Arnaly, a citizen of many places, and I want to share my experiences growing up in Venezuela, as well as my fun experiments in creative writing.
I became a writer the day I realized there was no more space for thoughts in my head and I needed to set them free. I write both fiction and non-fiction: in "La Maleta de Arnaly," I share my personal real-life stories, and in the section "Life Wayfaring," I write hybrid stories, allowing my imagination to roam free and blend with reality. I am a fan of Magic Realism and love to use it in my stories. I also write here things that throw me off balance. In the section “The Un-Poet”, I express my feelings in the shape of, hopefully, poetry.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you can join me on my journey as I traverse the world through my stories.
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Aurora Borealis in Maine on a cold winter night , crystalline snow ice covers a field. I am one of a group on a hay wagon ride being pulled by two horses and jingling bells. The night is clear. Waves of blue-green ghosts like sheets blow wind swept and dance in the celestial sky. A foreboding of electromagnetic waves that if strong enough can disrupt communicates. We could care less as the couples snuggled together to view the sky 🌌 world with wonder.
In southern New England, we've also missed countless celestial events due to clouds and rain, but last night's Northern Lights were spectacular: pink to red shimmering above with a bit of blue and green off to the side. More possible tonight.