An awe inspiring view tempered by heartbreaking need.

Sometimes I marvel that with all the people and places in the world, I somehow won the lottery and was born to the parent's I was and in the place I was.  I am truly grateful for both of these things.  But sometimes life gets busy and it can be easy to take things like our family and our state for granted.

Today I was reminded of how lucky I am to be in Alaska.

I was driving to the weigh in for the weight loss challenge I'm taking part in, and I was caught by the beauty that was happening right in front of me.

I live in Wasilla which has its share of wind, but Palmer is about 20 minutes from Wasilla has quite a bit more.  Today was one of those days in both Wasilla and Palmer and looking at the mountains that surround us both, the wind was blowing the snow off the edges of the mountains. 

It was about 9:45am and the sun was in just the right the spot that it was catching the edge of the mountains and the snow that was blowing off of it.  After being awed by the view for the majority of the drive I finally thought to pull off and take a picture, but by that point it was only the very edge of the mountain that was still "glowing".

Here's a somewhat pathetic glimpse of what I was treated to by Mother Nature this morning.  It is a pale comparison to the reality, but it's hard to capture and hold onto such beauty.

 

After being treated to such a majestic sight, I was brought back down to reality at the grocery store when a young boy approached me asking for money so he could get some food.  I don't carry cash, but I did give him the lunch I'd just purchased and then afterwards, after he'd thanked me and left to get a fork from back inside the store, I went looking for him to see if I could give him some more of my groceries so he could eat at least for a few days, but was unable to find him.  

It makes me heartsick to see homeless children, especially in a state so unforgiving weatherwise as Alaska is.