Consider this: today is October 1, and snow is forecasted in my hometown for the weekend. I, however, am writing this barefoot while seated in the grass beneath a large shade tree. Today there is nearly a 40 degree temperature difference between these two places. And while it may seem obvious what there is for an Alaska Girl to love about the South, some things are not quite so apparent.
Yes, I love experiencing warmer weather this fall, but I'm also in need of digging deeper to acknowledge and appreciate what that really means for our daily life. You see, I love Alaska. I love nearly everything about it. The things that I don't love, which are few, I love to hate. Homesickness and culture shock are a regular part of our reality right now, and I have come to learn that thankfulness is the cure for any sort of discontent. As I give thanks to my Lord for all the goodness He pours out upon me daily, in big and small ways, it is hard to focus so much on the sadness I feel over things missed.
After journeying 5000 miles from our beloved Alaska this summer, we find ourselves nestled in the foothills of The Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. If you feel so inclined, you may read a chronicle of our journey by scrolling down a bit and clicking on the "Operation Sunshine" label to your right.
During this month of October, I am going on another journey-of-sorts: to join The Nester and oodles of other writers in blogging 31 posts for the month. I hope you'll join me in this journey of finding the charming, lovely, and plain ol' ridiculous goodness here in the South.
On the bottom of this first post of the series, I will continue to list links for all the following posts of the month. Just click on this button:
Looking forward to this journey!
day 1: Alaska Girl in the South: a 31 day series
day 2: Misty Mornings
day 3: Critters
day 4: In Which I Reveal Why I Camped on the Bathroom Countertop
day 5: Everlasting Autumn
day 6: Bye-Bye Seizures; We Won't Miss You
day 7: A River Runs Through It
day 8: Sometimes It Floods
day 9: I Never Knew a Tomato
day 10: At the Pump
day 11: New Playgrounds
day 12: Camp Hair
day 13: Life After Fireflies
day 14: Rumblings
day 15: Do It Yourself
day 16: Next Best to Having My Own
day 17: Swimming in Sunshine
day 18: Beautiful Weeds
day 19: Come On Down
day 20: Living So Much Outdoors
day 21: Little Greenbrier School
day 22: So Many Trees
day 23: This One's For the Girls
day 24: Mosquitoes
day 25: Land of Christy
day 26: Andrews Bald and Clingmans Dome
day 27: Stories Brick & Mortar Tell
day 28: Community in These Parts
day 29: A Cove to Love
day 30: Odds & Ends, aka the Longest, Most Rambling Post Ever
day 31: What I've Learned
2 comments:
I am spoiled for mountains forever after living in Alaska.
My boys and I spent a moth this summer in Alaska. We loved it. I can't wait to read more of your series.
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