A Good New Home for My Family

Sometime way back when, not long after I started writing this blog and posting these pictures, I started calling LC my Mountain Boy.  Somehow the name stuck.

And it fits him so well because he spent many years patrolling as a law enforcement officer in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.  When I met him he was still living in eastern Tennessee - medically retired because of injuries sustained on-the-job.

I have no idea why we hit it off so well and so quickly.  It was never supposed to happen, and neither one of us was looking to find someone.  For the first year we were together I kept waiting for it to come to (what I thought) would be its inevitable conclusion. 

But somehow, and for some reason, that conclusion never happened.

My Mountain Boy, his brother, two trucks piled high with stuff, and a dog who gets car sick left Tennessee this morning and are now making their way to Alaska.

For the past few days I have been feeling very mixed emotions about his impending departure from Tennessee and his soon-to-be arrival here in Alaska.

I wasn't sure why that was.........

His departure makes my life here seem much more permanent.  I'm not just playing at being an Alaskan anymore.  My "real life" isn't in Tennessee anymore.  And finally, I need to commit completely to my work and to my new life. 

I have taken thousands and thousands of pictures over these past almost 5 month, and many of them are posted on this blog. 

My boys read this blog - one in Tennessee who (in spite of his busy and constantly evolving new life as a new graduate, married man and adult professional) follows what's happening with his mother. 

And one who is thankfully back in New Jersey now, but before that there was something very comforting knowing that even when he was in Iraq he also followed along. 

He was a long way from home, and in a war zone, but I knew that I was a piece of home that he could be close to via this blog.  And because of that it was a way for me to continue to stay close to him.

I started this blog originally though as a way to show LC what Juneau is really like - in all kinds of weather, all kinds of places, me sharing all kinds of experiences with him as I tried to find my way in this new life I had chosen.

But pictures and words don't ever tell the whole story.  He is coming here because this is where I am.

And I want us, after so many years of struggling separately in one form or another to be happy together. 

To just be.......happy.

I sincerely hope that despite early misgivings about Alaska, that he will be happy here.  It's not for everybody.

And finally, I have not seen him in almost five months.

Will things be the same?  Will they be worse?  Will we find our way happily with each other again after we have both lived separately for all this time?

I believe that we will, but it is still a time of questions.

He gets on the ferry in Bellingham Washington on Friday evening June 11, and arrives in Ketchikan on Sunday morning June 13.

On that same Friday morning I will be leaving Juneau and taking a ferry down to Ketchikan.  Arrive in the evening on Friday, and I will stay in a hostel in Ketchikan Friday and Saturday night and play tourist in a part of the state that is new to me.

I have been to Ketchikan three times - always at night, always in a plane.  So I'll take some extra time off work and explore and relax and enjoy one more piece of this very large state.

When my Mountain Boys' ferry arrives in Ketchikan on Sunday morning I am going to head back to Juneau with him.  And his brother.  And our dog.  And two trucks.  And the Beverly Hillbillies-like pile of what's left of our household belongings from our old life in Tennessee. 

I have found a beautiful house here.  Away from people, private, close to trails and mountains and water.  Have bought another vehicle and furniture and some things both necessary and comforting.  And some of my belongings from Tennessee are already here, having been mailed up to me when I moved into the house.  Hopefully I have made a good new home for my family......

He is somewhere in Missouri right now.  On the way to Minnesota to spend a few days with family over Memorial Day. 

Like I told someone today - he'll go to Minnesota and then turn left.  To Washington. 

I feel more at ease since he left Tennessee, and I suppose that part of the mixed feelings were also related to all the work he has had to do to prepare for such a large move.  Work he had to do without me. 

He sounds excited on the phone.  And I am excited and hopeful as well.

These few pictures were taken at Lena Beach close to the house on the way home from work tonight.