Springing Forward

It's great living somewhere with seasons again.  I love ongoing change, and it's refreshing to have it happening all around me.  When I was in Virginia, I always loved spring and fall.  Spring was so fresh and lush and promising.  And I've still witnessed very few scenes as beautiful as Southern autumn. Spring in Alaska is proving to delightful as well.  The landscape literally changes every single day as the snow melts to reveal new landmarks and colors and curbs.  (Not lines on the street though.  I had reasonably assumed those were hiding just beneath the snow. Not so much.)

The light here is truly amazing.  As I type, it's almost 10:30 and it isn't quite dark out.  I can still make out the outline of whatever island it is I can see from my living room window as well as the last little threads of pink light on the water. I'm realizing that I do not have a strong inner clock and should probably work on that since it's only going to get worse from here. 

To add to the list of things winning me over in Alaska, I'd like to discuss the DMV.  This weekend, I was in and out of the DMV in 15 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.  It was clean, efficient, and had validated parking.  California: take notes.  Or suddenly discover large amounts of oil beneath your surface, I guess.

I've been in Anchorage for 3 months today.  I've officially lasted for a season.  And my life, like the coastal trail, looks so different than it did on January 22nd.

I'm finally starting to feel like myself again on several levels.  My social circle is slowly growing, and I'm back to my favorite habit of filling/double booking most of my weekends and evenings with friends.  Between the warming weather and my new bike, I'm slowly becoming physically active again (and realizing how much the sedentary winter months affected by chubby little body).  I'm finding balance professionally, learning which battles to fight and which to ... postpone.  The weather and I are meeting each other in the middle, as it's relenting and I'm toughening up.

I fall down from time to time; I occasionally have a lazy or complacent day where I don't make as much progress on this life-in-Alaska project/experiment as I'd like, but overall I'm happy with my journey.   I'm as excited to see the changes in myself as the ones I see out my widow.  Every day is a discovery; every day is an adventure.  I'm looking forward to the summer visitors that I have lined up, and I'm so excited to introduce Alaska as my home.