Three Lessons on Love
C and I live a long way from where we each grew up: he in Hamilton, Ontario and I in Vancouver, British Columbia. So, when friends and family make the long trip to visit us, it’s a momentous occasion.
This past week, C’s lifelong friends, Ben and Irini, made the trek across Canada to spend two weeks with us in the Yukon. We had such a great time together. For the first few days, we putzed around Beaver Creek – had dinner at Buckshot Betty’s, biked to the creek, walked the trails, went to the Post Office, and ate from the garden. Normal Beaver Creek things, you know? The second part of the trip was spent on what tourists affectionately call, “the Golden Circle”. It’s the route from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines, Alaska, then on to Skagway, Alaska via ferry, and back up through Carcross, Yukon, and finishing in Whitehorse, Yukon. It’s an incredible trip, traveling through natural landscapes with beauty that, in my opinion, is unmatched.
Before reaching Haines Junction, we camped in Kluane National Park for a night and hiked Sheep Creek Ridge (Thechàl Dhâl). We’d decided on this hike months prior, in consultation with Ben. C and I have done the hike before, and Ben, having seen pictures, knew it was one he wanted to do. He also knew it would be special: he was planning to propose to Irini, his high school sweetheart and girlfriend of twelve years.
The hike was beautiful, but the proposal was incredible.
With that as the starting point, how could love not have been the theme of the trip?
We met and chatted with many people. There was the couple who’d lost their hiking poles and asked us to help find them, the family wearing matching bug suits (they were well equipped!), the father and son from South Carolina visiting Alaska for the first time, Isa from New York who was convinced she’d be eaten by a bear while in the north. But the standouts, no question, were the three groups we met who offered unique lessons on love.
1. The two Danish couples
The lesson: the importance of friendships.
The “Golden Circle” journey involves a ferry ride between Haines, Alaska and Skagway, Alaska. While on the ferry, I started chatting with a couple who commented on my 1970s era film camera. They’d spent years saving to take this trip with their friends, another couple. Together, they’d rented an RV and taken several months to tour through British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. As camera enthusiasts, they estimated that they’d be returning to Denmark with 2000 or so photos a piece. The couple joked that their grown kids would hate them for being made to sit through a display of 8000 photos.
Our interaction was not much longer than 10 minutes, but when they left, I was struck by how special it was that these two couples were experiencing this together. I’m a bit of a loner, and sometimes I think that I prefer to experience things alone, or just with C, but the time with Ben and Irini meant that the interaction with the two Danish couples heightened for me the good that comes from experiencing things with friends.
2. The German couple
The lesson: the importance of experiences.
Outside a restaurant in Skagway, Alaska, we struck up a conversation with a retiree-aged German couple touring Canada and the United States in their overlander. They’d shipped their vehicle to Nova Scotia, Canada from Germany and had been living in it for months. When we asked what their favourite part of their journey had been, they said, “the Yukon” without missing a beat. I mean, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yukon Territory is spectacular.
The lesson on love I learned from the German couple is to keep discovering and experiencing new things. Whether exploration is on a local scale – exploring restaurants, parks, and shops close to home – or on a global scale, like it is for the German couple, exploring with your partner can be, and should be, lifelong.
3. The Canadian couple
The lesson: the importance of tenderness.
While camping at Million Dollar Falls in the Yukon, we were passed by a truck towing a beautiful vintage RV. The RV was in pristine condition – a well maintained tan exterior with two matching lawn chairs strapped to the back, and huge windows that allowed a glimpse into the comfortable interior. On the back of the RV was a map that displayed every location in Canada and the United States they’d visited. It looked like they’d been just about everywhere! The drivers were an elderly couple. They waved at us as they passed our campsite and over the course of the next few days, we saw them multiple times.
The last time was on the ferry from Haines to Skagway. From across the ferry, we saw them seated, holding hands across the table. They weren’t speaking, but their body language was an embrace. This, for me, was a reminder that tender moments of affection can happen anytime, anywhere and at any age. Sure, I don’t know all the ins and outs of their relationship, but whatever they had, it seems like something worth striving for.
Love turned out to be the theme of the trip, thanks to Ben and Irini. Their beautiful engagement set the pace and I am ever so grateful.