For those of you who don’t know, we lived in Alaska for 4-5 years. Both our girls were born there, and it has instilled a primal connection, faith and love of the land in all of us that we can’t even explain unless you’ve experienced it. Alaska captured our hearts, our spirits.

We still have many loved ones in Alaska, whom we keep contact with and hope to visit again someday. Christy is one of my most inspiring friends. She is the mother of an amazing little spirited boy named Elias. Elias has cerebral palsy and has defied the odds at being born at just 24 weeks old. Now 4-years-old,he reminds us that life is precious and should be experienced and enjoyed to the fullest. Her story can be read at her blog here.

She recently wrote a post about the Exxon Mobile Valdez oil spill that happened over 19 years ago and her amazing writings remind me to find Joy in everyday and stand up for the simplicity in life, even when the money hungry corporate world could care less.

Following is excerpts from her most recent post:

Nineteen years. A long time to wait. But that’s how long the plaintiffs, mostly fishermen, have waited for compensation from Exxon Mobil for the oil spill that forever changed their way of life. Beyond livelihood, they lost their culture. They lost the ability to pass on the tradition of fishing to their children. They lost security. Retirement. Recreation. Faith in the return of a small fish.

And faith in justice served for the oil spilled—11 million gallons in Prince William Sound. The largest oil spill in US history.

Nineteen years.

8,000 of the 30,000 plaintiffs have died before ever seeing closure in this case.

A case that appears before the Supreme Court today after years of Exxon appeals.

And here’s the thing, the 2.5 billion in damages that the fishermen seek as compensation for the destruction of their way of life, for over 1,000 miles of coastline damaged by oil, for the Herring run that never returned, the sea-life killed, is equivalent to a mere three weeks profit for Exxon Mobil. Three weeks.

Nineteen years.

It’s estimated that Exxon Mobil earned 40.6 billion in profits last year alone.

How can the giant not bend his head, just slightly, to let the anglers breathe?

And This statement follows after the post talks about daily life with Elias:
I trudge through puddles of grief, an oily mix of sorrow, frustration, anger, denial, envy and fear, often. But because I do not side step these puddles but walk right through them, greasy knees and all, I find dry spaces of light where the world balances easily on my fingertip. And the sound of it spinning rings of pure delight.

Pure joy.

If only the giants of the world knew this secret, that sometimes you gain more when you loosen your grip, when you take off your power hat, get your pants dirty, and listen to the cries of a two year old child, or the call of a sea bird, or the voices of men and women who want nothing more than to fish.I hope you find Joy everyday in this gift called life!