This is a few days late so if you missed it, you missed it. I unfortunately was asleep when it happened myself. I am talking about the northern lights that was widely viewable May 10.

It was a Friday night and we had gone out for Cajun crab and grilled oysters. That of course needed a couple of beers to go along with it. It was also an unseasonably warm night. Nights are my kryptonite. Since I am an early riser, I have a hard time staying awake after 9pm. But more so than that, Friday nights are the worst. After a long week and having to work extra in the morning, I relished falling asleep 10.

Sometimes you snooze and you lose. I had read earlier in the day that there was a high chance that the northern lights would be visible. It didn’t give specific locations, just that is was possible. I thought that maybe I would take a look in the sky when it got dark but my fatigue got the best of me and I passed out without a thought.

These were photos that my son took just slightly out of town. I am a little sad that I missed it. I remember walking home from work in college and seeing the Hale-Bopp comet in the night sky. It is not something that I have ever seen before or since. There is something awesome or amazing about seeing these types of phenomena when they are rare.

Sleeping through it all wasn’t the only way to miss it. My nephew was with my family and said that he couldn’t see it either because of color blindness. My parents who live about 15 miles away said they couldn’t see it despite constant checking. I don’t know if it was spotty or you had to look in a certain direction or what the deal was.

It is not unheard of to see the Northern Lights in Oregon. They are pretty rare and largely in the Winter. Most winters are cloudy and overcast or foggy if clear so the diminishes the chances even more. The east side of the state has many more clear skies in the winter but I don’t live there. In fact few people do so it is not widely publicized that it is possible. I have seen pictures on the news before.

The Northern Lights is really a chemistry display. The sun has periodic storms where charged particles are blasted into space. Some of those particles make it to the earth and react as they encounter the atmosphere. That reaction is those particles losing their charge and causing light as a byproduct. Not only is it nice to look at, it also keeps us safe.

End Your Programming Routine: Someday, I would like to go to Alaska and hopefully catch this event. That is not the only thing I want to do of course, but it is one of those things that seems like a magical experience. I really wish that I wouldn’t have slept through it but when I got up on Saturday, I was more refreshed than I had been all week. I think that God knew I needed my rest to keep up with leading this battle against cancer more than I needed to see the Northern Lights.