Today I sewed a mask. Tomorrow I turn 30.

2015. I started this blog 5 years ago, that is hard to believe. 5 years ago I had just quit my full time job, moved everything I owned back into my parents house, packed 3 bags every bit of the 50 lb limit  (one mostly field guides), and I left my comfort zone. I spent a couple weeks traveling up the Pacific coast with different parts of may family and then I hopped on a plane to Alaska. And I was sold. I landed in Ketchikan to rainbow stretched over the airport runway, and then woke up the next morning to the house shaking and the wind blowing +120mph. That was my intro to this wonderful little town.  It didn't take me long to fall in love with this place and know that I wanted to stay here.

2016. This is the spring I officially became an Alaskan resident with my drivers license, fishing license, and Xtra-tuffs in hand. Tristan and I had adventures all over. Tristan became a captain. We visited the east coast twice and had a memory filled road-trip through Canada before Christmas in Washington with family.

2017. This year was hard and filled with so many ups and downs. This was also the summer it rained, and it never stopped. I went down in record as the wettest summer ever in Ketchikan. I had a wonderful crew. I lost my voice, and it never really seemed to recover. And I'm pretty sure I saw Tristan for about 12 days the whole summer. I went for a whirlwind Yellowstone visit to see my parents. I worked my first week for ADC. My best friends visited. It was the summer we dipped our toes into berry picking. We ventured through Utah, New Mexico and Colorado that fall. Then I spent some family time back east. 

2018. We decided this year would be for us and we would spend more time together. I worked my first Spring season on the Misty Fjord. We spent so much time at the cabin. We ventured over to Prince Of Wales. We collected all the berries: huckleberries, cloudberries, blueberries, and raspberries. We explored Petersburg, back to Washington, and more of New Mexico and Arizona. And I ventured back to the east coast some more.

2019. This was a very good year. I became an Aunt. I went back to life on the Misty Fjord for a few weeks. My mom came to visit. I worked on a cruise ship for a few weeks. I explored the Kenai Peninsula with family. Dad spent the whole month of September here. It was a summer full of family. It was also a summer full of harvesting to fill the freezer: Beach asparagus, more cloudberries, and cranberries. Visits back east to explore my favorite places with Tristan.

5 years ago I started this amazing adventure and 2020 was supposed to be the best of them all. Tristan and I both had full-time year round jobs. We got engaged and are planning on getting married this summer. We had a celebration party planned and were starting to get invitations ready for people. We were planning on taking a trip to Norway and Germany this fall. 

But we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Something that no one planned on or expected. Our worlds have all been turned upside down. As of this moment, we don't have jobs. Our wedding will be a small ceremony with no celebration afterwards. Our trip to Norway and Germany has been put on hold indefinitely. We aren't the only ones. Everyone I know is changing plans. A lot of them just like me are at a loss. Somedays I'm fine, somedays I have no idea what I am supposed to do when I get up in the morning. 

All I know is today I'm sewing face masks, and tomorrow I turn 30. This isn't the life I hoped for this year, but it is the life we have. It also could be so much worse. I see my friends who are suffering from this horrible virus. I'm thankful that we live on a small Alaskan island where shelter in place means we can still take the boat out to sunny beaches far away from everyone. We can still fish and harvest. We can still hike and camp. And I am thankful for all of these things.  

I miss girls nights, brunches, and coffee dates. I miss burger and beer night on Wednesdays and drinks out on Fridays. I miss the wonderful music scene Ketchikan has to offer (although I'm so grateful for all the Facebook live concerts our local bands have done every week). This week I was supposed to be picking crew members up from the airport and welcoming them to our wonderful home and their new life for the next 6 months. Training was supposed to start Monday. 

Yesterday I watched a whale from the beach and thought of all the things I would say to our staff while watching it. It was an easy whale to watch. It followed a pattern of 3 minute dives after every 2 breaths, nice full fluke, and swimming in a line across the waterway. You see I was born to teach people about the dive patterns of whales, how to identify birds, how to captivate an audience, and how to help people enjoy once in a lifetime opportunities. 

But today I'm sewing masks, and tomorrow I turn 30.