Night Lights.

Last night was Friday night. We all know what that means. It means Rob climbs out of his hole to see his shadow and grab a cup of coffee. It was a little slow at the coffee shop so I got wrapped up in a shadow conversation with the barista.

"I'd really love to see them."

"They're wonderful, if you can."

"I've told my boyfriend that in 2015 we're going to Norway to see them."

"planning that far ahead huh?"

"Yeah."

What are we talking about? Northern lights, of course. Whether it's the radioactive glow on the horizon, or the ghostly wisps dashing overhead. They're something to behold. Go ahead, behold them. Beauty is in the eyes that do.

Yeah, what do you want on a weekend? Quality jokes? Please. It's my day off. I don't give you good jokes on the work days why would I start now?

Good jokes are like the Northern lights They're gone before you even know what you saw, and you still need to be in the right place to see them at all. This clearly isn't the right place.

I wondered about the lights in terms of relationships too. Are relationships like the lights? Are they as fleeting as my jokes? Little gasps of light that we grasp for and can never reach-- Lights on the horizon that lure us on, but are as tangible as the leprechaun's 24k Tongue stud?

"Yer after me gold! ahyayayaya"

I'm not trying to sound pessimistic. I'm like Mac Davis. I believe in music. I believe in love. A also believe it's a little elusive, and sometimes we go chasing it into places where we don't belong. I have the scars to prove it. What is the best way to approach the loverechaun? Unique up on it?

What? Tell your kids that joke. They'll laugh. I promise. Of course you will have to explain the loverechan and his tongue stud. You can probably skip over his rubber doll though. No need to mention her. It doesn't help the joke.

Then again, it's kind of like loving a corpse: no mater what tricks you play, she's never going to scream for more. Just ask the loverechan, he'll tell ya.

My barista told me she's been dating this guy for 6 months. She's already looking at 2015. How? I've been on bike rides that seemed smooth until the bolt loosened on the front wheel sening me chomping gravel. Granted, I've never had a bike ride last six months, but bikes speed thing up. She's just walking through this. What is the love mile post? Where do we get the big "You are here!" pushpin?

I know, I know, "sometimes you just know." but where are those sometimes? They aren't on my map.

I saw the Northern Lights once. I hadn't mapped them out either. I was on the porch of my step-father's Minnesota cabin. The sky looked kind of like the ghosts that fly overhead at Disney's Haunted Mansion, only lit by a 15 watt bulb: very dim. Still it was cool. I'd never seen them and never had a great desire to be there, but once I was. Wow! Nothing compared.

I've gone back since, hoping to see them again. Never have. That's the thing about the Northern Lights. You can't really chase them. You just sort of stumble into them. My barista's gonna go look. I don't know why, she's already got a night light right here at home. I think that's what really matters. But that's just me. I search for shadows and coffee for fun.