Alaska, here we come!

Well folks, it's official. No more ifs, ands or buts. For about two years now, Heather and I have dreamed of living in Alaska after we both got through school. Having both been there more than once, we were enchanted by what seems to be a majestic nature of America's largest state.

I lived in Alaska for one month years ago with my uncle and his family on Elmendorf Airforce Base. We hiked Flat Top Mountain together, played basketball till 11pm many nights, and it was still light enough to see clearly. I went fly fishing in the Kenai River. I drove the entire road system in Alaska during that month (there's not much to it). My cousin, uncle and I caught 9 pink salmon in the ocean at the mouth of the Kenai. I went deep sea fishing and caught two 25lb halibut. And, we chartered a boat to fish in the middle of the Kenai river during which I, only 13 years old, caught a 65lb king salmon setting the record for second largest ever non-comercial catch on that river (they put my picture in the paper). After I caught my fish, moments later, my cousin-12 years old-caught a 57lb king salmon. My uncle later caught a 25lb king but threw it back cause he was holding out for something bigger. He didn't get it.

Alaska has had me ever since.

Heather has visited 3 or 4 times on church mission trips, each for a week. All but one time they stayed in Anchorage predominantly hosting a vacation Bible school for kids in the community, working with other Baptist churches during worship and building decks, painting fences or whatever needed done to fix up a local church. One year, Heather, her family and others ventured to Kobuk, AK, a small village north of the Arctic Circle to minister to the people there. They flew to Anchorage, drove north to Fairbanks, then flew on a tiny, tiny bush plane to Kobuk: small town, huge mosquitoes.

Our last trip to AK, we took together, with a church group. During that week Heather and I and two others visited daily a home for troubled teenage boys. We played games and talked mostly, getting to know them and built strong relationships in a short span of time. I'll always remember them and the lively and unique spirit within each of those boys.

In Alaska everything seems bigger. I know Texas has the monopoly on things being big, but lets face it, Texas doesn't have many mountains and isn't even half the size of Alaska. So Texas...back off. I remember looking at the sky and thinking it was somehow closer in Alaska than in North Carolina, but also so far away. We once drove to see and walk on a glacier. The drive was on a road next to the water at the foot of an enormous mountain with scores of them on the horizon. It was absolutely breath taking.

In NC we have bears. They occasionally got into our family's trash can growing up but are relatively harmless as long as one is careful. In AK they have bigger bears who are not at all harmless. There's an entire island named after the most dangerous bear, Kodiak Island, on which I'm sure I'll never set foot. It's nothing, even in Anchorage-a big city-to spot a moose crossing the road or hanging out near the airport. They're very large and one should always keeps his or her distance.

The most common question we get is, "Why would you want to live in Alaska?" Well, these are some of the reasons we want to live there, even if only for a short time. And now, after finishing school and a long arduous process of hopes, dreams, disappointments and worries, we no long have to say we'd like to go. We can now say WE ARE GOING! Last Friday, Heather was officially offered a job as a Clinical Pharmacist at a small specialty hospital in Anchorage. After much jubilation, we have accepted and are making plans to move.

We're finally getting our dreams to come true. Things are falling into place, and for the next month before we leave we'll be seeing friends once more and saying goodbyes and goodlucks. It won't be goodbye forever, but it might be for a while. Because we're finally able to say with confidence, "Alaska, here we come!"