The Green Flash

I decided it was time to reveal myself on this site so yes, that is me on the left. If you happen to recognize me in public please respect my right to privacy. If you must recognize me in some manner, buy me a beer or something. As you can see by the ecstatic smile on my face, we witnessed the elusive “green flash sunset” moments before this was taken. The Green Flash has eluded me for 36 years, and many of those years spent on the coast-staring at the sunset- hoping for a green flash. In my mind I always pictured it dancing in dazzled patterns across the water just before the sky went black, and that is most likely why I never saw one. It is the sun pulsing, an emerald orb- sustaining one last intense projection of color before slipping beneath the waves.
I was asked if I was thinking of anything in particular when it happened, as if there is some significance to the moment above and beyond the scientific. I don’t remember that I was, and perhaps that is cause for concern. When magic happens, you have to be ready to use it.
I have seen the Northern Lights from the Wyoming Plains. (I thought I was hallucinating after emerging from a 10 hour underground caving expedition.) I have seen it snow in Florida. Waterspouts on the Gulf.
Thunderstorms rolling past below me, rather than above, from the Sacajawea peak in Montana. Tidal pools full of anemones and starfish on the coast near Tillamook, OR -lunar eclipses and meteor showers. Curtains of ice, water boiling straight up out of the ground, and hurricane winds blowing whitecaps on the puddles in the Publix parking lot.
It isn’t like me to let magic slip by. I’ll be ready for the next one.
-Juancho

2 Responses to The Green Flash

  1. hmmm…
    I’ve seen tens of thousands of sunsets on the water (Pacific, daNang, depends on the episode) and never seen the green flash so described by my elders (always elders, come to think of it).

    I think it’s the eye damage of folks who’ve stared at the sun for 30 some years. I’m waiting for mine eyes to see the glory though, because I DO want to see it!

    And what about these polarized sunglasses? Do they kill the green magic? They’re Navy issue!

  2. Ahhh, the green flash. I spotted it once when I was out on the beach walking my black panther, which I discovered later was actually a jagurundi/otter mix.