Questions:
Have you ever been so in love that nothing seemed as important as this single attraction? Have you ever fallen so hard that even if you tried, you couldn't help but give yourself up to full immersion? Have you ever been so engaged that all you wanted was to know more?
A friend recently asked me why I did it--why I felt the need to move northward, 2,000 miles from the big city to the "emptiness" of Alaska. She wondered what I might be running from. Having always appreciated access to music, culture, and a network of friends why would I impose such a great barrier of physical distance between myself and the other?
Yet, after much quesitoning I came to the conclusion that I am not running from anything but, rather, I am running to something. In this place of mountains and rivers the routine doesn't involve check out lines and traffic, but, instead, is made up of interactions with the wild beasts of the woods. And while I can't sway in a smoke filled room to the rhythm of my favorite band (that will have to wait until next month), here in the northcountry my breath is deep as I walk with humility and reverence for the incomprehensible vastness around me.
More than anything, coming here has meant coming home. A return to a life so basic that fulfillment is not something you strive for but is something that simply is.
Have you ever been so in love that nothing seemed as important as this single attraction? Have you ever fallen so hard that even if you tried, you couldn't help but give yourself up to full immersion? Have you ever been so engaged that all you wanted was to know more?
A friend recently asked me why I did it--why I felt the need to move northward, 2,000 miles from the big city to the "emptiness" of Alaska. She wondered what I might be running from. Having always appreciated access to music, culture, and a network of friends why would I impose such a great barrier of physical distance between myself and the other?
Yet, after much quesitoning I came to the conclusion that I am not running from anything but, rather, I am running to something. In this place of mountains and rivers the routine doesn't involve check out lines and traffic, but, instead, is made up of interactions with the wild beasts of the woods. And while I can't sway in a smoke filled room to the rhythm of my favorite band (that will have to wait until next month), here in the northcountry my breath is deep as I walk with humility and reverence for the incomprehensible vastness around me.
More than anything, coming here has meant coming home. A return to a life so basic that fulfillment is not something you strive for but is something that simply is.
VIEW 20 of 20 COMMENTS
I did not necessarily bail from AK by choice. I was ten and my dad's company moved him. I had no concept of what it meant to move away, and he actually asked me and my brother our opinion. We thought it sounded like fun. In retrospect, we had no idea how great our lives were in AK.
The older I get, the less I miss AK but now, after reading this entry, I remember why I loved it so.
Then we can trade! Bathory me mate!
JESUS SAVES! *horse buckling tremolo guitar solo*