There is a story my Grandmother on my fathers side used to tell me before she passed away. When I was little, the biggest threat she would make when I was not behaved, was that she was going to pack me in a box and ship me off to Alaska. I didn't know much about the state, I was maybe five at the time she last said it to me.
But my grandfather had kept a really nice collection of encyclopedias so, after asking my mother to spell it for me, I looked up this state I had never heard of.
The encyclopedias were full of the most beautiful pictures of mountains, trees, lakes, rivers, and wildlife the likes of which I had never seen.
I was in love.
So the next time my grandma said she was going to ship me off, I pulled my shirt off and got ready to climb into a box. I wanted to go to Alaska. It was so much prettier than the dull browns and tans of Sothern California.
My grandma pulled me out of the box and sat me on the couch next to her. She explained to that she couldn't ship me to Alaska. I wouldn't fit in the box in my clothes and it was too cold there be with out clothes. If I was a good girl, I could move to Alaska when I was grown.
Before Tim was born, his mother, (who is hands down the best mother in law ever), had been seriously considering moving her small family to Alaska to pursue a career there. It was only fate that a job in California panned out first and they stayed there. Had things gone a different way, its very likely I wouldn't be sitting here in Utah, writing this blog.
When Tim was 10 years old and in 5th grade they did an assignment where they talked about who they were now and what they wanted for their future.
On this assignment, Tim listed that he wanted to live in Alaska. He cut out a photo of the state and pasted it to the poster board.
Later that year they sent them home. Tim and his mother folded and kept it.
To this day, he still has it, and pulls it out to show how much he's wanted to move to Alaska.
It was a dream we had both given up on during out last marriages.
Sometimes, some dreams just aren't meant to be.
But now, well now things are different. We're together, and we both have the same dream.
Alaska.
We've decided.
And we're trying.
With any luck we'll be able to move this micro-homestead onto some real property in the state we've always dreamed of.
Keep your fingers crossed for us, we're gonna try.