From Alaska to Cripple Creek

          Chapter 1

             A Blessed Life in Alaska and Blessings Beyond

Alaska is known as The Last Frontier, and has more untouched land than any other state in America, with all different sorts of unique wildlife crawling all over it, including big game animals, such as grizzly bear, polar bear, Kodiak bear, brown bear, black bear, moose, bison, and caribou. Alaska is 1/5 the size of the lower 48 states, sitting bigger than Texas, California, and Montana, all combined. The state is made up of a beautiful landscape, and has some of the most spectacular views of mountain scenery in the world, stretching on and on in some places, as far as the eye can see.

I grew up in a really small town in the interior of Alaska, where I was blessed to experience many great Alaskan outdoor adventures, and had the lifestyle of hunting moose, caribou, and bears regularly, during the 21 years I lived there, and called the state home. When I was 24 years old, I broke my neck in an ATV accident, leaving me paralyzed from the shoulders down. I was rushed into surgery shortly after the accident, and sometime during that surgery, I had an out of body near-death experience, leaving no doubt in my mind, that life most certainly does go on after death here on earth, and reassuring me that the love of God is far more glorious than any of us can ever imagine.

It has been nearly 10 years since the accident, and even though I cannot move, I realize that God has truly blessed me, with an amazing and wonderful life. There are many things I have been able to do in life that I am thankful for. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to travel all over the United States and Canada, mostly playing hockey. From the small historical town of Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, which was originated and founded during the Klondike Gold Rush, and still to this day has not changed, to the big city lights of Vancouver, British Columbia, where I saw my first NHL game, and where I would travel to every year for a Christmas hockey tournament, during Christmas break in high school.

I even got to travel to a small hockey town in the Nova Scotia province, where I attended a hockey camp for goalies when I was 13. I have visited the Northwest shores near Bellevue and Seattle, Washington, where the salmon fly freely through the air down at Pike Place Market, and have driven through many mountain ranges in the Rockies of Colorado, where around every corner is another mountaintop reaching for the sky. I have traveled all throughout the Midwest, where the corn and soybean fields seem to go on forever, and have smelled honeysuckle in the fresh cool air of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, where the moonshine flows through stills, like rivers flow through valleys.

  I have partied hard in the back of a Hummer limo while driving down the magnificent strip of Las Vegas, where I made the wild decision to go on every ride at the top of the stratosphere, and have even been lucky enough to travel all the way down to the southernmost tip of America in the Keys of Florida, where the seagulls are not afraid to chase you down for your McDonald's fries.  I have flown over the Pacific Ocean twice to explore the magical islands of Hawaii, where I got my first tattoo of a cross with my Mom at the tender age of 16, and was able to hike the Hanakapiai trail on the North Shore of Kauai 3 miles back to a hidden waterfall. 

I have seen much beauty in all of the places I have been, and I have had wonderful experiences on each journey, most of them with my amazing family, for which I am most thankful for in life. I have been blessed with an amazing and caring Mother, who has always had tremendous support, love, strength and encouragement to give. I have always looked up to my Mom because she is the strongest person I know. She has always been my main teacher in life, teaching me right from wrong, and always instilling the good morals of life into me. But mostly she has always just been a fun loving Mother, willing to do anything and everything for her kids. She has always been there for me no matter what, even when I needed to be bailed out of jail. She raised me and my younger brother with an immense amount of compassion and love, but never let her love get in the way of punishing us whenever needed. She taught us to always treat people the way you want to be treated yourself, and told us to always give it your all, and do the best you can do at whatever you are doing. 

She is a hockey Mom through and through, and she is not one to be messed with. She can get a little crazy sometimes, and has always been known as the sheriff, because she was always laying down the law on hockey trips. She has always gone to extraordinary lengths to support me and my brother, and we love her dearly for it, and do the best we can to repay her for always being there for us. 

Not only have I been blessed with an amazing family in life, but I have also been blessed with the privilege of growing up, and living in Alaska for 21 years. Out of all the places I have been, and out of everything I have seen in my life, the vast beauty of Alaska's wilderness will always hold a special place in my heart. To me, there is nothing like standing on top of a mountain looking down into a valley, or out over the tundra, and seeing nothing but nature, for as far as you can see, in every direction. The mountains rise high, and sometimes you feel like you are sitting in the clouds, looking out over the wetlands, where ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers stretch on for miles and miles. 

There is nothing like going outside when it is 50 below, and looking up at a dark night sky filled with bright, shining stars, and seeing the northern lights dance across the sky. There is an old tale that claims if you whistle and clap loud enough on a cold winter night when the aurora borealis is out, they will begin to dance across the sky. We decided to test that theory out one time on a freezing January night. My brother and I were playing a board game with some friends at the dining room table, when Mom hollered to us that the northern lights were out. We all raced outside even though it was 55 below, and I don't know if it was just a coincidence or what, but shortly after we started screaming, and clapping, and whistling, the northern lights danced wildly across the star filled sky. The greenish yellow rays clashed with the pink and violet rays, as we screamed with excitement and joy. I got to witness the northern lights on numerous occasions while living in Alaska, and there is such a natural beauty to them, that it is hard to find anything to compare them to. Just like it is hard to find anything to compare to all the times I've traveled out into Alaska's great wilderness, either on four wheeler, or snow machine, or boat, to hunt, or fish, or just take a ride.

I grew up in the interior of Alaska, in a really small town called Tok, where it is normal to hop on a wheeler or snow machine, in order to get to the store, or school, or work. It is a quaint little town, where people live a self-sustained simple life. Although it is a simple life, there is a lot of work to it. People trap, hunt, fish, cut wood, farm and forage, all while dealing with the extreme weather patterns Alaska has to offer. Seasons change very quickly and abruptly in Alaska, so we always made sure to prepare for winter and break up. Break up occurs during the springtime and can create quite the mess of slush, mud, and water depending on how much snow fell during the winter. I learned how to work really hard and became very independent at a young age growing up, because that is exactly what it takes to survive in the interior of Alaska, along with determination and strong willpower.