Night of the Macabre, the Mundane, and the Miracles

by Donna Poole

It was a night of miracles. The first one happened when my daughter asked me to come outside at the late, almost turn into a pumpkin hour of eight o’clock, and I didn’t have on my pajamas. If circumstances permit, I’m usually ready for bed by seven-thirty. Blame my mom for that. It was a rule growing up; you must be in bed by seven-thirty even if you were a senior in high school. And lights out. No reading. She never knew I held my book up to the little window and read by the neighbor’s outside light.

But I digress. On that unforgettable night, Thursday, October 10, 2024, Kimmee begged me to come outside. Why? On Wednesday, a deep black hole on the sun known by the name of Sunspot #3848 lined itself directly up with the earth and let go with a massive flare. The coronal mass ejection erupted toward us at 2 million miles an hour. That sounds scary, doesn’t it? But all it means is this massive geomagnetic storm gave us here in southern Michigan an excellent chance to see something on many people’s bucket lists, the northern lights.

Kimmee has desperately wanted to see the northern lights ever since she was a little girl and missed a chance. Her brother came home from his second shift job, woke us up and asked, “Want to see the norther nights?”

Did we! We woke Kimmee. No, she definitely did not want to get out of bed, so we went without her. Later she was upset with herself and the rest of us. We should have forced her to get out of bed rather she wanted to or not, don’t you know. After that, she determined she would take every opportunity to see them and the rest of us would too, rather or not we were in our pajamas or in our beds, don’t you know.

That’s why I was outside shivering Thursday evening. Kimmee’s husband, Drew was outside too, and so was my husband, John. He had finished preaching at the nursing home service and Kimmee had captured him before he had a chance to get in the house.

Sometimes you can see the northern lights by taking a picture of them with your cell phone even when you can’t see them with your eyes, and that was what was happening. John and I decided to drive down to the next gravel road where it was open in all directions and look from there.

We were able to get pictures of the northern lights in every direction, not just north. But John kept asking, “Are you ready to go now?”

“No, I’m not ready to go! This is a night of miracles. Can’t you just enjoy it?”

I didn’t say it but I sighed inwardly. No romantic hand holding? No whispers of endearment under this sky sparkling with stars and cradling a sliver of moonlight? No “I love you” to make the pinks and greens we see in these photos fade next to the beauty of our love lasting for fifty-five years of marriage?

A voice rudely interrupted my thoughts. “Are you ready to go NOW?”

My inward sigh erupted outward. “Okay. Let’s go.”

We got home, and John dashed for the bathroom saying, “I haven’t been in here since five o’clock when I left for town!”

And then I laughed. Poor guy. No wonder he kept asking if I was ready to go. He was ready to go! Every day is miracles and mundane.

Pajamas on and cozy in bed it was lights out time, but around ten our phones lit up with calls and texts from Kimmee and Drew. “Come to the garden, please! You can see the lights with your eyes now, not just with your phones!”

I hesitated for a moment. I’m seventy-six not sixteen; would I get another opportunity to see the northern lights? On the other hand, the macabre creatures we call wolf spiders lurk in the garden and in the big yard between the house and the garden. You hear their gargantuan bodies rustling through leaves when they creepy-crawl at night. If you shine a flashlight, their demonic eyes gleam malevolent thoughts of your demise.

“John, will you come out to the garden with me?”

“No, thanks. I’m good right here.”

Goodbye forever, my dear John. You stay right there and be cozy, and leave me to brave the creatures of the night alone. I’m off now, to fulfil my quest, and perhaps slay a dragon or two, ere I reach the promised land of the garden, but you enjoy your slumber.

Our happy marriage of fifty-five years is partially due to the fact I don’t verbalize quite all my thoughts.

No sooner did the back door slam than Drew came running and grabbed my arm. “Dad coming?”

“No.”

“Too bad!”

“Yes.”

And then I stood next to Kimmee and Drew and watched the magic unfold. Hues of pink and green waved, folded, and spiked up into the sky. I knew I’d never have words to describe it. I thought of the Apostle John who saw the wonders of heaven and was told not to write them all in the book of Revelation. Perhaps he didn’t have the vocabulary. And I don’t have words for the northern lights. Magical, mysterious, wondrous, amazing? No. These won’t do.

I say with the Psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” –Psalm 19:1

I forgot all about the lurking wolf spiders and focused on the sky. Yes, that’s an allegory, friends. You connect the dots.

I wondered if the people I love in heaven were looking down at the display even as I was looking up. And then I realized that even such a stunning, breathtaking sight as I was seeing would pale compared to seeing the glory of God in person the way people in heaven do every day.

About an hour later I was curled up next to John getting warm and trying to say what I’d seen. I told him about a picture I’d gotten of Kimmee and Drew standing together, gazing up at the sky. I didn’t say I wished we had been together. We were together now; we loved each other more than the day we’d married, and that itself was a miracle.

“I should have come,” John said.

“It’s okay. Maybe there will be another time.”

And perhaps there will be. Because life is composed of the mundane and the miracles with a bit of the macabre thrown in, just to keep us looking up.

The end

Note: Photo credits: Kimmee Kiefer

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These blogs are now available in book form on Amazon:

Backroad Ramblings Volume One: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

Backroad Ramblings Volume Two: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

Backroad Ramblings Volume Three: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

Backroad Ramblings Volume Four: Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter

I have six other books on Amazon as well, four fiction books in the “Life at the Corners” series, and two children’s Christmas picture books.

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