lives colliding

i've fulfilled my second to last goal for life in alaska: seeing the northern lights. on my anchorage to salt lake leg flying home for thanksgiving, i was on the left window side of the plane when the aurora decided to do a hundred mile dance. it shimmered right next to me, an incandescent emerald curtain heralding the heavens. it lasted past the point when i became sleepy; i would occasionally wake and still see the striations congealing and drifting apart like dream stuff floating above pewter clouds, leading us to oz.

home has been a really good thing. the friends i have - in what seemed like my former life - have surprised me about how much they've grown. one guy started a nonprofit to update schoolbooks in a kenyan town where he volunteered, a close girl friend is a nurse for the children's hospital, another a performance poet, one guy does advocacy in DC for schizophrenics. i love how they are good people who put their money where their mouths are instead of being complacent or materialistic, or scared. i love that i am inspired again. things are forgiven. hello and goodbye.