Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

First my November Gratitudes:

November 23rd: Steve and I live on the flight path to the Fort Wainwright airfield. We frequently hear aircraft flying over our house.  And then, there are those moments when the house vibrates with the sound of a C-17 passing over. They fly so low, that I joke that I can see the pilot smiling.  Military sounds don’t disturb me any longer - no matter how loud or how close. When I moved my sons down to Fort Benning GA back in 1993, we lived 1/4 from a multi-purpose range. We’d hear gunfire most days, but tanks would also train there, and we’d hear the big guns. Then there were the middle-of-the-night “gunship” planes which had cannons on board. The first couple of months, they’d wake us all up, because they sounded like they were crashing on our roof. But after awhile, we got used to it and had no problems sleeping through even the loudest training exercise. When I hear aircraft or gunfire, I feel proud that I married a soldier, and that I live in a military community. If I’m standing outside in my yard, I look to the skies and watch them fly over - waving to them, even if they can’t see me. I am thankful that there are people willing to go to work each and every day and do what most of us wouldn’t be able to, let alone want to. Today I am thankful for the “sound of freedom”.

November 24th: Today I am thankful that I live in a small enough city/town that I run into people I know when I’m out running errands.  This morning I saw my friend Darla at Denny’s when Steve and I stopped to have breakfast. It was nice to catch up with her for a few minutes (and talk cameras, since she’s in the market for a new one). Then, at Fred Meyer, Steve ran into a guy who used to work at the mine, and they chatted for a few minutes. As we were leaving, we laughed about the fact that we can’t hardly go anywhere without running into someone we know.  I like that about living here. Growing up in Philadelphia, the odds were pretty slim that you’d run into someone you knew while out and about. The city was crowded and busy and there were many places to shop. When it happened that you did run into an acquaintance, it was a pleasant surprise. The city of Fairbanks has a population of about 32,000. (If you add in borough residents, it swells to about 97,000 - but also encompasses 7444 square miles!) To put that in perspective with Philadelphia, consider that Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia holds 62,000 spectators - almost twice as many as the population of the city of Fairbanks! Even if I don’t run into someone I know personally, I always see familiar faces when I’m out and about. I like that.  A lot. Today I’m thankful to live in a small community.

November 25th: Today, I am grateful for the always beautiful Northern Lights! They made an appearance last night around 10pm, and I stood beneath the sky watching curtains of light wave against the stars. As always, it was a magical experience and not too cold out either, which made it possible to stand out there for 30 minutes enjoying their dance.

November 26th: Today I am thankful that I’m going to see my kids!!!! I’ve been checking for good airfares to Madison for months now, and couldn’t find anything under $800. Frequent flier tickets were available from Anchorage to Madison but not from FAI to MSN. And then, last night, I checked the online FF calendar and a bunch of dates from FAI to MSN showed up that weren’t there before.  I’m leaving Tuesday (12/2) and I’ll be home the following Wednesday (12/10). My tickets were $10 and 25,000 miles which were collecting dust in my Northwest FF account.  I haven’t seen my boys and Becky since they came to visit us in July 2007 - so about 16 months. Way too long… And just yesterday, I was on the phone with Brandon, and I started to cry when I told him how much I missed him and his brother. It’s so hard to live so far from my boys. Seeing them once every 1.5 or 2 years is so depressing. That’s why I don’t feel very much joy this time of year - I miss my kids so much.  But now I’m going to see them!!!  And I’m going to be able to hug them, and cook for them, and take them shopping for their Christmas gifts (no wrapping and shipping!), and just hang out with them.  I’m going alone and I’ll miss Steve’s birthday, but he said he’ll just cry a little. *grin*  We’ll celebrate both our birthdays when I get home. Six more sleeps and I’m on my way to Madison! My stomach is doing flipflops with excitement.

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And now some photos from the light show the night before last:

This photo’s not in good focus, but I’m posting it because I wanted you to see how bright the green glow was behind the trees. You can see how the light has illuminated the siding on our house:

The green glow rises even higher:

I set up my tripod in the road, and a car drove by. The headlights lit up the trees brightly. This photo is a bit eerie, but I think it’s neat too. Imagine driving home under skies like this:

I like the way you can see the aurora behind the treeline here, with the light beams going up into space:

This was my last photo of the night. You can see the clouds rolling back in from the left of the photo:

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Today is Thanksgiving at our house because Steve has to work tomorrow. We’re having a ham (Steve’s not a big turkey fan) and all the fixings. So an early Happy Thanksgiving to all of my US friends!

Until next time…