Ketchikan is what they call, a transitional town. People come and people go. Unless you are a hardcore nut such as myself -you stick around for three, maybe five years max -then you pack up and leave. Many people are stationed here for the Coast Guard -they do their three – five years then pack and move somewhere like Hawaii. The nuttier ones among the bunch do eventually come back because there is a saying that goes something like “Ketchikan will never let you go. You come once, you will be back.”
But the truth is -you make friends, and then they leave. Within five years.
I’ve been thinking about this lately. Everything seems to be leaving, or coming to an end here. The summer. The season. Softball. House sitting jobs. Even my journal, ironically, got filled up today -meaning that I must start a new one…and as silly as it sounds, that is always a bittersweet time for me. Most of my friends have packed up and left for school, jobs, or homes across the sea. It seems sometimes that I am the only one who has yet to pack up and do something grand.
Of course then there is the fact that last year was such an amazing year for travel -and this year I’ve barely left town.
But I am trying to see the other side of things. The side that isn’t just everything is leaving, everything is ending -but instead -there is plenty of opportunity for new and exciting things. The starting of something new. A new season, a new journal, a new month. A fresh start.
The leaves are being ripped from the trees, the sun is setting earlier and as much as I wish to leave my window open at night -I am being awaken in the middle of the night, forcing it shut. Summer is leaving. Fall is well on its way. September is coming.
Before long the last of the tour boats will pull away -our town will hole up until next year. The population dwindle down to the remaining nuts who call this place home and we will begin carving out a new routine. One that is much slower. Of course it will be ok. It always is.
It is just the transitions that are hard. Regardless of when they come. Or who they involve.
Good-bye, Summer! Until we meet again.
Tangled Thoughts 