Day 90

At 7:47 AM I rose from my bubble gum pink sheets for the last time. Teeth brushed and hair pulled back, I jogged the familiar route along Anchorage's sidewalks for the last time this summer. Now I sit with the best cup of coffee I've ever had in the Midnight Sun Café…last time this summer. When they pulled the tray from the oven, I sweetened my sorrow with a chocolate chip cookie. Tonight, Lyn, Stuart, Beth, Katherine and I are going to Girdwood to pick blueberries and eat at Lyn's choice, Jack Sprat. It will be dark by the time we drive home tonight. Home.

We saw two black bears a couple days ago on our fruitless search for blueberries.

By 2 PM tomorrow, I will be in my one-story red brick home in Dallas surrounded by familiar smells, faces and sounds. Though I become restless thinking about being home again, it is not easy leaving my Alaskan family, the smell of earth and life, and the streets and mountains that have become so familiar to me. I know I will be back.
There are at least four people working behind the small bar at this café. Dishes constantly clang together and the hum of expensive machines continues to challenge the sporadic, clamorous, yet friendly voices of employees and customers. Once, someone told me he found Alaskans ill-natured. I think he decided to dislike Alaska before he arrived. His loss. I have never been in a city with more active citizens and the warmth displayed by these people who are constantly bothered with tourists surprises me. Thank you Anchorage.

Anchorage, AK