Old Fashioned Simplicity

I moved to Alaska to chase the rapidly receding Wilderness. By accident I also stumbled upon another thing I forgot I was looking for: simpler times.

As a child I was a HUGE fan of the Laura Ingalls books (never liked the show--ruined all my imagined images). What I loved about these stories was the way happiness could be found only by listening to Pa's fiddle or making maple candy in the snow. The Christmas story of the children being ecstatic to receive only pennies, oyster crackers & ribbon candy is burnt into my memory. It resonates with my understanding of where our sense of joy comes from and it's not our modern lifestyles and material goods that make us happy.

Luckily Alaska has a "frontier" spirit. Sometimes it can mean really backwards thinking, but usually it's a good thing. This kind of old fashioned friendliness and helpfulness just can't be experienced elsewhere. Whenever a car breaks down at the side of the road folks rush to it as if it were a sport to help out! My husband and I could only laugh, when we ran out of gas and were offered rides by three different people - in a matter of 10 minutes!

Then there's the appreciation of simplicity. Not that Anchorage doesn't have it's own big city problems, but if you drive 30 minutes away from there you can still leave the car unlocked. Or folks will talk to you about berry picking, making jam or canning salmon. I love the fact that our grocery store has a huge section of canning supplies and jelly jars and this is taken very seriously!! Fishing isn't done for sport as much as it is to fill the freezer.

If only I could keep those cell phones at bay, but they have followed me here as well........