Deanne Burch is the author of Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Artic Circle – this is an excerpt of her book.
Last night, I dreamed I was back in Kivalina, Alaska, with my husband, Tiger. We were young, in our twenties, with a bright future ahead of us. It was late spring, when the sun never set and people wandered from house to house at all times of the day and night. Th e country was awake with tiny wildflowers, though the temperature rarely rose above forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Th e sea ice was the color of aquamarines and sparkled in the sunlight. Sometimes, the sky turned white as the fog rolled in, obscuring everything for miles around.
The scene quickly morphed into a winter painted in muted pastels—dove-gray hills in the distance, snow reflecting pinks and mauves when the sun was low. A perpetual glow toured the horizon for a few days in late fall, but by early December there was no light at all. The colors of Kivalina were an echo of my life there: The grays mirrored my loneliness and isolation, the soft whispers of pinks and mauves offered me fragments of hope.
Shaking, I struggled to light the kerosene lantern, our only form of light. What if it ignited in my face? I was worried. I gave this job to Tiger when he was home, but he wasn’t around. The room was cold as the wind howled through the cracks and crevices of our wooden house. I didn’t want to be here for another winter.
Despite being wrapped in blankets, when I awoke, my teeth were chattering, and my feet felt like ice. I reached over to touch my husband and instead was met with an empty place and a sense of overwhelming loss. He wasn’t there.
About the author
Deanne spent thirty years as an internationally known photographer. She taught in Canada, United States and Canada. During this time, she published several articles in photography journals and magazines. After retiring she has devoted her time to writing. She enjoys writing short stories and children’s stories.
Deanne grew up in Toronto and moved with her husband, Ernest (Tiger) Burch in 1964 to a primitive village eighty miles above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. Since1965, Deanne and her husband lived in several different places before settling permanently In Harrisburg. She lives in Lemoyne, Pa. and has three adult children who live in different parts of the country. Her husband is deceased.
The book can be purchased below:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Through-Fire-Ice-Shattered/dp/1949642593/
Author Website: https://deanneburch.com/
