Burnt orange shag~

Traveling through the mountains of Alaska and into the Yukon with nothing but time to think I felt connected yet disconnected.  Time stops there and becomes surreal.  Between the beauty that seems gentle and the reality of the harsh conditions.  Pulling into Whitehorse, I got a room and was exhausted.  Opening the door, I noticed burnt orange shag carpet, the old cotton quilts, and heard Patti Page singing on a radio that had been left on.  
Extreme emotion, while stepping back in time and feeling my past rush through me.  This had the old triggers of my Mother and her Mother.  The sight the sounds, remembering the simple  joys that made us tick back then.  The happiness found in cleaning the house with my Mom on Saturdays while she played Ray Conniff and the Percy Faith singers, singing "I can see clearly now the rain has gone."  Man..we were wild lol.
I felt safe there because of all the memories.  The blanket tucked in around my body and that old music put me to sleep.
After coffee in the morning and some good old bacon and eggs it was time to fill up at the gas station that was a mobile home.  First time for everything I guess.  Turned the corner and abruptly stopped, not just for a moment but for an hour.  Bison.  Not a couple, not a few but an entire herd of huge Bison as big as my car.  The held me hostage for all that time but it allowed me to look at them up close.  To see the reflection in their eyes, and the breath exiting out of their mouths.  Will this place ever stop feeling like another dimension?

After they decided it was time, I got to pass.  Feeling like I finally had a new start to the day I moved forward with determination to make it far that day.  It wasn't long though before I was stopped again.  This time by emergency crews and scattered men and women running around trying to help people out.  To make people safe.  You see, by being held back I missed the landslide that took out the road, making it impassable.  I guess it just wasn't my time to leave this place.

Sitting in that car for a day while crews and dozers were brought in gave me a chance to let my mind wander to damn much.  Like the crazy monkey brain.  It hit me deep that I was spared and thanked the Bison in my silent prayer.  I held close to my heart the sweetness and safety found in the night before in a place so far away from home.  And more than anything, it gave me a chance to look in the mirror.  I saw my own reflection in my eyes.
I saw blue skies and mountains, I saw love so deeply born, I saw the past releasing hold of the future, and everything felt right.  Everything felt like burnt orange shag on a magical night~

Now I'm someone's Mother, making memories for them.  Being a rock of sweet peace and safety, and I'm so very good with that~