"Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

A very strange yet believable thing happened to me one morning almost a year ago this month. We had just returned from Alaska, our 2nd re-con trip to scope out the possibility of moving. When we returned I think we both knew in our hearts that we wanted to live in Alaska, and just needed the courage to move forward to make it happen. Of course, the first question that goes through ones mind at that point is, "are we doing the right thing?" or "am I sure this is what we should do?". Ok, there are a few other general questions that go through ones mind at that stage, but all along the same lines. I remember laying in bed one morning...as I often did in the mornings..... I always enjoyed looking out our skylight, and it was intentionally positioned right over our bed so we could scan the treetops, and whatever other scenes that would come into view. Sometimes a chickaree peering through the glass down at us. Sometimes clouds drifting by, or snow wafting earthbound. Was always very relaxing and we loved our skylight. But this one morning, I saw something that would forever change how I looked through our skylight. After this particular morning, I was truly never able to look through it again without seeing and feeling a strange comfort, yet I was always at a loss of words to describe what I would see and would think that I was...well, crazy! But it was real, and the circumstance in which it transpired....breathtaking.

You see, it was this particular morning that those questions of "what?", "is it the right thing?","holy crap what are we doing?" were flooding my mind, and I just wanted someone to tell me what to do. And then like a flash of lightning, it was there. Like someone had opened the flood gates all at once and I was washed with a chill and the feeling of, "it's gonna be ok." It was Jerry , man. He was looking down upon me through the skylight, and I just knew at that moment that it was going to be ok. I knew at that instant what we had to do. Now this is no joke, no props. This is a real image, from our skylight, and a true story of what led up to this. I had never seen it a day before this particular morning, and I looked through that skylight religiously. And from that morning until we moved, he was there everyday. Look to the middle left of the actual skylight in the photo. He is there with a grin.

I cropped the image to give a better perspective. Now I don't want anyone to think that Jerry Garcia, fallen frontman of the greatest rock band of all time, the Grateful Dead, was the reason we moved to Alaska. In fact I think we were on our way regardless. But this jumble of thoughts and questions, and then the strange unprecedented apparition, I could only see this as one thing. So for those who think...."what the hell is he on?" Or those who are going "far out man...". Or yet to those who are saying, "....yeah, whatever...." I had to tell the story, and share what I saw. You decide for yourselves, and see what you want to. But for someone who wasn't sure where their life was about to go, or whether or not it should go there, this morning was somewhat of an inspiration. It calmed the nerves, and allowed me to see things from a different perspective. If nothing else, it was a moment of needed relief, in a tempest of insecurity, and indecision. If nothing else, it cleared the senses long enough to have a chuckle, and lighten up. He sang it himself, his words to a 'T'. "Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."