Meeting Ali

It was a very cold day and getting even colder as the sun started to descend at around 4:00 pm when we arrived at the Akan Crane Center.

Ali from Florida had been at the center since 8:00 that morning and he was still enthusiastically taking photos and oohing and ahhing at the sight of the Japanese cranes landing and taking off again.

Ali is a photographer. You know...the kind of photographer who takes shots of the Obama inauguration and the Summer Games in Beijing.

He was wearing an Iditerod jacket (the famous Alaskan dog-sled race). Ali explained that he had taken photos for the Iditerod for a few years and when photographing last year's race, he had quite an unexpected experience.

Ali was a passenger in a small plane that was flying near the Brooks Range when due to bad weather, the plane went down and crashed into the Yukon River.

Ali said that he had enough time to think about three things before they hit...

1. He was okay with God -for the most part he tried to do the right thing
2. He was okay with others -he walked away from confrontation and did not feel
the need to apologize to anyone
3. He loved being a photographer and was happy with his life's work

If this was it...he was ready to go. He was at peace.


Thankfully it was not Ali's time and we had the privilege of meeting him and listening to his story.

Thanks Ali.


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