Judging from the number of
vehicles parked in the pullout, you would have thought it was summer, but the
temperature was 15 degrees at Tern Lake late on an afternoon.
Along with a number of people, Serendipity
was also skating on the frozen lake. As
a young boy used his hockey stick to free air in frozen bubbles in the ice,
Serendipity brought four long-time friends together as the setting sun turned
the horizon pink.
Hoar frost adorned everything and
bald eagles flew overhead, waiting until the people left so they could get back
to snatching salmon from the open areas of the lake.
After the hugs of greeting, the
friends do what Alaskans always do—they tell small world stories of
running into friends in exotic places around the world, of connections unknown
and unanticipated and delivered by strangers, and of adventures of the
wilderness kind.
No hats, no gloves, but for one
who was dressed for skating. For a half
hour they talked of long ago when they lived in the same town, just a few miles
down the road. Of jobs they worked in
remote places, and special stories of wild animals they encountered and the
memories they held dear. They spoke of
friends, children now grown, and things they want to do.
And then they parted, until the
next time when they will take up right where they left off.
Gotta love that Serendipity.
