perspicacious.org

I left Albuquerque 5 years ago yesterday, with an old minivan full of stuff I thought I needed (but really didn't), a driving plan, and no idea what I would do when I got to Alaska. I didn't have a place to live or a job, and I only knew a couple of people. I left a steady job, a whole lot of possessions (Goodwill was happy with me), and a lot of sky. I miss the sky sometimes. The rest, well, you don't know what you really hang onto and why until you try giving it up. So little in life is truly important.

5 years ago I made this, my first campsite along the 4,000 mile drive up to Fairbanks. I made dinner on my backpacking stove and sat at that picnic table under the Wyoming sky, wrote in my journal and sketched those trees.

I'll be 30 next month, and I feel more settled and grounded here than I have ever felt in my life. All of those things I "gave up" to move here, I got them back ten-fold when I chose to put down roots.

So I'll leave you with the same thing I say each year, on the anniversary of my move here. If there's something in life that's pulling you, that you haven't done, if you're inspired to make a change and do something different… why don't you? I dropped everything and moved as far north (almost) as the road would take me, and it was the best thing I ever did.

This pretty shot (ha, watch as I toot my own horn) is from a boat trip down the Chena (fyi– it's "CHEE-nah") River last night. See how high the sun is? It's maybe 9:30 pm here. I got home at midnight in full sunshine. Summer is weird, and you wouldn't think so, but you can forget about the eternal daylight a little if you have thick curtains and sleep on a normal schedule.

R and I are moved into our new place, with boxes still everywhere and fun furniture to assemble. (Totally R's job. I could maybe do it myself, but I hate that stuff.) We have been selling our souls to purchase a household's worth of furniture. Since we housesat for the last 3 years we had no need to buy anything and had amassed only a couch, a desk chair and a mattress. Now we have a table and chairs, a TV stand, a desk (must assemble that soon), two end tables, a dresser and a platform bed. I love the look of the platform bed. It's very sleek and simple and was not expensive.

I am only working 2 days a week at a cake nanny job with 3 well-behaved children. Actually, 2 well-behaved children and one slightly more difficult child. Still easy. The rest of the time I am unpacking and working on coursework for a fascinating (ZZZZZZZZ) graduate class I'm taking by correspondence. One of the books I've read so far was called The Way of the Human Being. I'm also taking a 3 week class which begins on the 23rd. It is called "Applied Research Methods." So far, grad school is awesome! I'd quit, but the pay raise makes it worthwhile and we have a mortgage now.

Hit me occasionally and ask me to post. I have oodles of fun stories. Or at least a couple.