The Last Frontier

is a place of simplicity. Contrary to what you might imagine if you've never visited - let alone lived here - this is not a place of hardship. Inconvenience, yes. (In fact, I'm sitting at Jessi's laptop listening to her vent about the idiocies of special offer promotions where you discover, after countless minutes of data entry, that "Ha ha! We faked you out! We neither ship free to Alaska nor will we let you have the aforementioned 40% off since you apparently live on the ends of the earth!" It's rather like having a corporation stick its tongue out, seal it lips, and spit upon you in glee).

So, cold weather, yes.
Breathtaking skylines and mind-blowing vistas, yes.
Incomparable rhythm and majestic bounty, yes.
But hardship?
Definitely no.

But, here, the highway sports no billboards. The birch trees are brilliant and the pomegranates hang heavy on the bold rusts and marigolds of autumnal leaves. The sun is rising around 8:30 and, by the time the city's Happy Hour makes its first call, Alaska's shadows have long grown long, heralding the impending close of another day in The Last Frontier.

The pace is calmer. Smoother. And, although Anchorage is fast opening its routes of consumerism to big markets like Target, Old Navy, and Imax, the era of the boutique and artisan shop is far from over since, after all, what man makes with man's hands has beauty and value because it is just that: made by man's hands.

I find I'm happy here, not because I've seen the faces of friends and family or felt their embrace or seen them smile (though, undoubtedly, those are all true). Rather, I'm happy because I feel as though I'm in the cradle of God's creation - rugged, untamed, but gently coaxing...wanting but not demanding I see past its harshness in the hopes I'll embrace its inner beauty.

That's rather like me, really. Hoping inwardly that you'll love who I am, despite my quirks, my eccentricities, my penchant for correct grammar and acts of service or inexplicable love of elephants and order...that the world will look beyond my obstacles and see me for the grandeur of possibility I can be. That they can help make me.

If I, too, were The Last Frontier.