After a week in a hotel, we are finally on our way to our
new home. Today we went to our last worship service at Anchorage Grace Church,
then to lunch at our friends Shelly & Phil Cochrane's house. It was nice to
have some quiet fellowship and let the kids play together before we hit the
road.
We made a final stop at Fred Meyer to get our last
supplies for the ferry trip. I'm sure it was quite a sight in the parking lot,
as we had the van wide open and our stow away trailer open as we found the last
possible nooks and crannies to stuff things in the van, which already felt
over-full.
Then it was off to Whittier, Alaska -- a small harbor and
not much else about 90 minutes from Anchorage -- to stay the night before our
ferry left on Monday. We decided to go down a day early because Whittier is on
the other side of the longest mountain tunnel in North America. It only runs
one direction at time and changes every half hour. It is also prone to sudden
closures. Hubby and I both thought it
would be better to be on the right side of it ahead of time, just in case.
As we drove down the Seward Highway, we all said goodbye
to our house as we passed our exit. We marveled at the beautiful mountain views
as we drove along Cook Inlet for the last time.
What happened next surprised me. This has been a hard
three years for me in Alaska -- so far from family, struggling with severe
health issues that were exacerbated by the cold -- and I can't count the times
I had dreamed of the day when we finally left. It's not that we didn't have
some great times here -- it just never felt like home, especially after the
deep roots we had in Ohio (which are still smarting from being pulled up so
suddenly).
As I looked at these amazing views, I was surprised to
find tears rolling down my face. I thought of the Cochranes -- a lifeline to
us, especially while Steve was in Afghanistan.
When someone shows up at your house with ginger ale and crackers to
watch your kids for six hours (and let you vomit in peace and privacy) and
still wants to hang out with you after, that's real friendship. I thought of my dear employers the Noltes,
who were more like family than bosses -- both had helped me through Steve's
deployment and my health issues, Miriam even cried with me -- and other friends
from work, the girls' school, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and church. They may
not have been super deep roots yet, but there were roots here -- and pulling
them up was not as painless as I had imagined it would be. The Lord clearly
used this time here to teach me quite a bit about leaning on Him and
understanding truly where my worth comes from once my health, achievements, and
everything was stripped away. He sent
some amazing people to help me through this journey, and to bless my children
and husband too as we struggled through it together. I am so thankful for them and would miss them
all. I would miss the moose family in
our yard. I would miss the last house of
babyhood for our family -- where our youngest went from an 18 mo baby to a
full fledged little boy. I would miss
Alaska more than I thought possible.
We arrived at the Inn at Whittier and even though it was
chilly and rainy, we sat by the fire and enjoyed the beautiful Alaska scenery
for one more night on land.
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