Like a high fever finally breaking in the body of small child, the recent cold snap that has gripped the interior lifted yesterday and today bringing relief. After fifteen straight days of fifty belows, the wind finally began to stir, and the cold subsided. Fairbanks reached above zero yesterday, and today in Circle it is a refreshing eight below.

When it’s super cold, I seem to always walk hunched down into my coat like a soldier in the trenches avoiding enemy fire. But today I can stand up straight, and stretch. And breathe. And smile.

There was a moment today during lunch when I walked outside without a coat and soaked up a brief moment of sun. It was the first real sun I’ve experienced in what feels like forever, and within just a few minutes it was gone again, and along came evening. But with the lifting of the cold comes a corresponding lifting of our collective spirits. Everyone is in a better mood. And now that it’s warmer, I am already rethinking my recent doubts about Alaska.

Tonight as I was building a fire I thought, sure, Alaskan winters are hard, but they’re not that hard, and it is a hardship of my own choosing. And I love it. I do.