Cold Lights

This March, we are in Alaska and all I can think right now is, why would anyone want to come here? It’s so cold. My boyfriend’s mother wanted to take pictures and videos of the northern lights so she can paint them when we get back to Florida; as if we don’t have enough visuals on the internet.

Snowflakes plant their artwork on my face mixing with the cold sweat droplets forming frozen ski slopes down my cheeks. This stiffness must be how old Hollywood actresses feel when they get a facelift and unable to move, like a manikin.

Surely my toes are getting frostbitten and my butt is so cold and numb making me feel like a sitting illusionist. “Look up Jamie,” my boyfriend Ted whispers in my ear. Miserable in this glacial chair and upset that his icicle-like breath froze my ear hairs, I look up.

“Breathtaking. I'm so happy we came here.”