There was a children’s book I read to Iris while we were on the ferry titled “My Lucky Day.” The plot contained a piglet who outsmarted predator animals to get what he wanted. At the end of the book, the piglet says something like, A bath, a nice meal and a massage — it must be my lucky day! I didn’t think about any special meaning to the story until a few nights ago when we went down to the river where there was a helpful fisherman who let Iris reel in a beautiful sockeye salmon, and then cleaned it for us to eat. I said to Iris, “This must be our lucky day!” And I’d been thinking that for the past few days, how lucky we were to be where we were and have everything go so smoothly. But is it luck? Or, like the piglet who made his own “luck,” is it the confluence of hard work, knowledge, planning, resources, karma, kismet, Providence, answer to prayers or any combination of those. I suppose whatever you want to call it, the result is the same. We are happy and settled right where I’ve wanted to be for a while, on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, right on the Kenai River, in a town called Soldotna.

I had been looking at housing and jobs here as well as in Wasilla and even though I applied for a teaching job here in Soldotna I wasn’t sure I was qualified for it and I had convinced myself I needed to stay in Wasilla closer to Jennifer. However, as we tried to settle in those first few hours in Wasilla, it just didn’t feel like home. Then, as I was driving back from our shopping trip, I got a call from Soldotna. After talking to the administrator, it sounded like maybe the job was a good fit for me after all. I explained my conundrum of wanting to be close to Jennifer but not be in Wasilla, and I agreed to an interview the next day, telling him I had some things to think about. I was immediately excited and after talking to Jennifer and thinking about it some more (we’d be less than four hours away) I decided to go for it. Even before interviewing, I was pretty sure the job was mine and after the interview I felt even more confident.

The next few days are a bit of a blur. At some point I realized that we had to be down here before I knew for sure about the job, because school was starting and holy crap! I have a kindergartner!!! On Monday August 19, less than a week after we arrived in Wasilla, we headed out. Actually, we thought we might be delayed (again!) A windstorm blew in over weekend, reigniting many of the fires across the state, including the Swan Lake fire on the Kenai Peninsula near Cooper Landing, less than twenty miles from here. But by noon the road was open with the warning to only travel if necessary. It was necessary. Driving through the hellish landscape was surreal. At one point, there was a huge smoke plume ahead of us and when we got closer we saw treetops and grass burning just yards from the roadside, I thought to myself, I can’t believe they are letting us drive through this! I had noticed the lack of oncoming traffic and after a few more miles and it was apparent they were stopping traffic again. I didn’t realize how lucky we were until the next day when I heard people talking. Sounds like they closed the road again right after we made it through. Whew.

Everything about being here just fell into place beautifully. We found a really cute, affordable condo right on the Kenai River and close to the schools. Because I was a late hire, I was able to take Iris to the two-hour kindergarten for the first week. I knew I was cutting it close with daycare and getting to the high school in time and even that worked out. The first period of the day is my prep period so as I’m rolling in right as the bell is ringing I don’t have kids waiting at my door. Hallelujah. We’ve just been enjoying this beautiful place so much.