It was the first time I had to decide between muck boots and high heels for wedding attire.
The first time I enjoyed a cup of coffee above the clouds (on the ground and not in a plane)
It was the first time I have hiked through rugged wilderness to pick wild blueberries.
The first time I’ve held my nephew in my lap to read a book.
I’ve been to Alaska many times, but I promised myself on this trip I would do something new. I need to experience new things while away from home. I need to experience new things while I’m still at home. My mother called me a free spirit a while back….. I would have to agree with that. A need to see things I haven’t before will always run through my veins. A need to explore. Though, it doesn’t have to be big new things or things far away. Just a need for experience.
I few weeks ago I spent some time with a girl, whom I watched grow into an incredibly beautiful woman, get married, in the mountains of Alaska. Her dress, filthy with mud and her face adorned a permanent smile. I saw the people who love her, cry, and laugh right along with her. And dance with her. And when we bid her goodbye, I spent the rest of my time climbing mountains, riding rivers, catching fish, picking berries and being with my family. My little family. I got to spend time with a little boy who is learning to form words, a little boy whose hair color is similar to my own little boys, similar to mine. A little boy who looks so much like my big brother, I watched hime run in circles and play and dance. And run around with a bucket on his head… because he does after all, belong to my brother.
People often ask if I love Alaska.
I do.
It’s a place of never ending trees, full of rainforest vegetation that survives the winter, raging rivers that are so blue you would think they were the ocean, but glacierial cold to the touch. It’s full of wild untamed animals, unexpectedly showing themselves in some of the most precarious places. It’s a place at sea level with mountains bursting out of the ground in every possible direction. It’s a place of inspiration, for poets, and painters, and song writers and is a photographers’ dream.
It’s a different way of life, lived in rain gear and snow boots and bear spray.
So yes, I love Alaska for so many reasons. And I cry every time I say goodbye to my big brother.
But I love where I’m back at as well. Blue skies and wide open spaces, small rivers I can wade in with bare feet……I think love that more sometimes.
But I do love it there.
