Insomnia

There was a general consensus on the way home that no one would be sleeping tonight. Not for many more hours anyway. Even for me, who has been seeing the lights on and off for the last 9 years, 3 months and 4 days.
It's 3:55 in the morning now, and there will be another few hours before there's a resigning into the emotional exhaustion of something so much bigger than us, but so close and connected to us. For now though, all that plays in my mind are the ribbons of pink whipping across the southern horizon reflecting on a lake that may as well have been a mirror while loons call in the distance.

I know not every night will be like this. There will be quiet nights. Nights of stubborn north magnetic fields. Nights of exhaustion from hours of driving, scrutinizing weather maps and radar. Nights when sleep comes easy. Those nights will come too. Just not tonight.