Living an Unfinished Adventure
We are all living in cages with the doors wide open
Breakups (a.k.a. Spring) in Alaska are messy. Let’s face it—this land’s relationship with winter has always struck most of us as verging on obsessive. So the ensuing seasonal shift, though expected, comes with the volatile clinginess and emotional roller-coasting that those in any ending, co-dependent relationship might feel. We’ve come to accept this year in... Continue Reading →
I’ve been single parenting it for two weeks now. Having lived in a community with a high military population as well as North Slope—oil and gas working families, I’ve sat through many a conversation (quietly) between people temporarily single parenting. Having always had a present working partner, I merely nodded empathetically and stayed guiltily mum.... Continue Reading →
As a child (maybe 10 or 12?), I remember one of my favorite activities was going out to 'get lost' on my bike (yes, that sounded like, "Hey Mom, I'm going to get lost. I'll be back I think!"). There was a neighborhood a mile away from mine that was nicely bordered by four busier... Continue Reading →
For the past few poor snow years we’ve become wild ice chasers, listening anxiously for word-of-mouth news on lakes, sloughs, ponds and marshes that have frozen solid (enough) and are clear (enough) of snow to skate. This year though, has been a glorious snow year. Don’t get me wrong, we love the snow—winter is what... Continue Reading →
(Published in the Anchorage Daily News on 12/21/2021) I have an immunocompromised kid, so the pandemic has taken a lot from me in the last few years. And I want to get to that darkness, but I will begin with what light remains. The pandemic hasn’t claimed any of the lives or health of those... Continue Reading →
Ben called us his “yes” people. Sometimes I think he had just perfected his tactics for convincing people and we happened to be conveniently persuadable with kids the right age. Regardless, he knew how to wait for the right moment, draw us in with a story and make us feel like we were missing a... Continue Reading →
For one week, the spring sun was simply stunning and the snow reacted dutifully, streaking in buckets down our street towards the drains, squelching into soggy lawns and creating brilliant reflections anywhere it couldn’t. The left behind browns work hard at greening up, but they always take a muddy while, so we headed to the... Continue Reading →
I have settled on a few, weighty conclusions this heavy year, and one is that belief is a recurring choice. As a species, a nation, a community and as a family, we have been shown just how little control we exert on the world as it has pushed us back into our humble place of... Continue Reading →
In the midst of this pandemic and our own inner turmoil, we sought the sea and its shores for respite this summer. As I watched the rain fall into the ocean surface, I wondered about this human desire to seek solace on the seashore. I felt that we personally were drawn to the sea this... Continue Reading →
“Time did not exist; or if it did it did not matter. Our world then was both wide and narrow—wide in the immensity of the sea and mountain; narrow in that the boat was very small, and we lived and camped, explored and swam in a little realm of our own making…” –The Curve of... Continue Reading →
Living an Unfinished Adventure 