Solitude

Come with me up this wooded shady path. This I think, will be a walk in search of solitude.

Such a beautiful place – this mountain trail, the greens, blues and even the shady places hold a fascination for me. I wonder if the animals that live and walk here are aware of their good fortune – probably not – even we humans fall far short in that respect.

It’s cooler here in the wooded shade but oh so fresh and clean. I wonder why our lives can’t be this way – why can’t people have fresh, pure thoughts and really love each other – then could all people really appreciate nature, the land and each other.

It’s peaceful up here close to the sky. I think I’ll sit here and let my soul soak up the freshness and peace I find here. No noises to irritate the ears and mind, only the sounds of nature to please and soothe the bruised and battered nerves.

The wind is so soft and soothing, just that fresh, easy breeze to clear the mind. The smells of cleanness everywhere, dew on the grass and bushes, and that sky – from here it resembles a lovely blue blanket dotted here and there with the fluffy white that makes me think of sterile cotton.

How I wish everyone of all nations could find their place of solitude, then maybe some of the world’s ills could be cured.

My solitude is here – in this land called Alaska. I ask only to be able to live here in peace and to be able to truly enjoy the lessons nature has to teach to all who care to listen.

Lois E. Schoppe

My Trek

I left my home just after dawn.

My journey had begun.

I was walking toward those distant hills, facing the rising of the sun.

I need to feel the earth as I walk, hear sounds and smells so sweet.

The rushing water in the streams, green, soft grasses beneath my feet.

My mind is clear, my thoughts on things I need to feel and understand.

God must have loved Alaska; it was he who formed this land.

I feel that I, though just a speck, my journey just begun, know now for sure as 

God made me, he made the land of the midnight sun.

May 26, 1983

Lois E. Schoppe

Together Forever

Mom and Dad had an agreement, one year in Alaska and if she still wanted to go back to Michigan, they would.

Needless to say, that never happened. Mom loved it as much as Dad did and never wanted to leave.

The rest of their story is simple, two years after Billy, they had me. Mom drove up with Billy and me and, after Dad got a job at the power plant in Fort Greely, we lived in Delta Junction, where they had Lori. Melanie was born later, after we moved to the Matanuska Valley. Together they raised four kids and lived the adventure of life in the last frontier.

My next several posts will contain poems Mom wrote about her life in Alaska and there is where, I'm sad to say, this blog will end. Their lives were full and happy and now they sleep, together forever, in the cold, hard country they loved so much.

What more is there to say?


Please join me next week for the first of Mom's poems: My Trek