Alaska–Day One Done

I was eight years old the first time I went to the beach. It was in Mexico. Since then I have been to beaches in Hawaii, California, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New York, and now Alaska.

I guess most people don’t frequent the beach on snowy, windy days. I wonder why, because the colors are fantastic with sea foam and clouds and giant flakes falling from the sky. I was on the very tip on the Alaskan Spit yesterday. On the map, it is the thinnest of lines into the bay.. There is coal on the beach from coal beds that lie in the ocean. Pieces wash up on shore. I picked up a chunk of it, drenched from the sea. It’s hard to believe that something that cold could ever burn so hot.

The most interesting thing I saw was a graveyard for ships. All sorts of old boats, broken, sea-battered, and marooned in a ragged line. It was just a drive-by, but my imagination exploded. I want to go back and walk in the shadows of these ships and take photos and weave stories and paint pictures.

I am staying with a friend and her family. They made me welcome signs and have done everything to make me feel at home. It is so nice to be in a place of so much love. It makes me think of my own family in ways and reflect back to the days of quick pasta meals and board games on our little kitchen table. I guess I never believed how fast those years could go.

I was thinking about how you never get time back, when my brother called. I haven’t talked to him much since my sister-in-law died. He forgot that I was going to Alaska. He got out his atlas while we were on the phone and said, ” Oh, here you are. I see you!” It made me laugh and feel optimistic that he is able to make jokes. I promised him that I would come over and clean up his answering machine for him when I got back.

While I was writing my blog this morning, there was a loud sound like falling bricks and moving furniture and the bed shook for a second and then it paused and then again for a few more seconds. Then I heard the kids say, “Earthquake.” So I just lived through my first earthquake.

I guess maybe it was more of a tremor? I don’t know about much about the technical differences. I just know that those tectonic plates are shifting around and sometimes it reminds people that there are forces all around us doing their thing. And if you really think about it, every moment is kind of a gift.

On this trip, I am making an effort to breathe and look and listen. I have known for a while that I have been ignoring what I need and what I want. Coming here was a step in listening to my heart. I just hope I am brave enough to keep trusting in the messages that are coming my way.