Art, John Goss

in movies or read in books, in person was no longer someone else’s experience. It was my own. You didn’t have to be anyone but yourself, which gave me an overwhelming sense of self confidence I had never felt before. I always heard folks say if you can succeed in New York you can make it anywhere, and I proved to myself I could. That it was possible. As the year of wonderment came to a close, the sequence of events that made it so easy to stay in the city all of a sudden began falling out of place. The house I owned in Seattle wasn’t selling, my grandfather was sick, a toxic person came into the job, and the relationship I had was falling apart. It made sense to make yet another change in returning back to Seattle. On the airplane home, I was reminded of the blue, blue water, and the lush green vegetation, and it seemed to make leaving all the culture, diversity, new friendships, and the adventure a little easier. I left kicking and screaming. But if I hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have had my wonderful daughter.

John Goss

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Lynne Wasson

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Caroline Crabtree

We decided on the Chena River boat trip and while wandering around when the boat docked, I suddenly realized I had left my purse on board. We had been off the boat a good half hour so panic set in. All my money was in it. I hurried back. It was right where I’d left it — untouched! Amazing!! Back on-board, Bonnie suddenly discovered she had lost the dangle from her earring. Her favorite pair! She looked around on the floor and looked through her hat and coat, but it wasn’t there. She reported it to a crew member in case anyone turned it in and then went to the gift shop and bought another pair. We had to be up early Monday morning and be in the lobby by seven thirty for a van to take us to the train depot. As Bonnie started to undress, she suddenly gasped and said, “I felt something fall — oh, oh!” She reached into her bra and came up with the missing medallion from her earring! How about that!!? First we recover my purse and then Bonnie’s earring. Bonnie said, “We are leading charmed lives. It must be because we went to church this morning.” Thank you God. On the highway coming in we had noticed a gift shop with a big sign, “Everything half price.” We asked at the desk if there was a bus running so we could get back to it. We were told no, no busses, but if you call them, I’ll bet they’ll come and get you. So we called them and they sent a van. The van was equipped with chains but one of the links was broken. That broken link clanked all the way to the shop. What a noise! The shop was upstairs above a rather rustic looking restaurant and it was a shopper’s paradise. We all bought quite a bit. We shopped an hour or so. Then Bonnie asked if they would take us back to the lodge. He looked at all our packages and said, “It looks like you’ve bought enough so we’ll take you back.” We were all ready to take our bags and walk to the pick-up area when there was a knock on the door. It was a very nice looking young man who said, “We have a Cherokee and are making a sweep around to see if anyone needs a ride to the lodge.” Talk about God providing! He seems to be working overtime for us on this trip. In Anchorage the people were telling us they had a sandstorm yesterday. The wind blew about 40 to 45 miles an hour and the lava dust was picked up and blown around. We had just missed another disaster. God is good. We are living charmed lives! On our way to Portage in our rented car, as we were driving along Cook Inlet, Linda and I both spotted something white in the water quite close to our shore. “Bonnie, stop!” says I. “There is something in the water.” To our amazement, it was a tremendous pod of Beluga whales. I swear. There must have been at least fifty, spread out, slowing making their

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