My Alaskan Home

Alaska grew on me. It really did. It stole my heart and refused to give it back. Really! I wasn't one of those people who always wanted to visit Alaska or like a friend of mine from Georgia who says he wanted to live in Alaska since he was a little boy. He read about it in a book and was captured thereafter.

The prospect of living in Alaska was even further from my mind. Honestly, it was my husband who asked me to request it. Request it, actually ask to be sent to Alaska? You know I gave him quite a look. Hawaii was my first choice. Warm weather suited me just fine and I didn't care to feel like an icicle. I had no way of knowing that later in life I would be grateful to be a resident of the cool Last Frontier. That's right they gave me my second choice- Alaska. I probably rolled my eyes at the time. Especially since I got to precede my husband in travel until family housing was available.

Ah well, I deal with and adjust to new circumstances fairly quickly. Besides, being a creature of habit, I also can become attached to those things, people or places that seem to suit me. That's what happened with Alaska. My attitude changed.

After a tour of duty overseas and a couple of tours stateside, Alaska literally took my breath away. A naive 20 something, I thought I had seen it all. Everywhere I turned was a different class of beauty. The Alaskan winter was my welcoming mat and it rendered me speechless. It was five below zero when I arrived in early October at a base outside Delta Junction. Evening came in the late afternoon. Looking back I remember that the base immediately reminded me of Hogan's Heroes. Yes, I know I'm dating myself. But It actually gave me comfort. I now had a part in my own drama, set in Alaska. Ready, Set, Action! Do they still say that?

Believe it or not they weren't quite sure what to do with me. Yes, I had orders that directed me there and all. But for whatever reason they weren't expecting me. The Army had sent me all the way to Alaska, but I wasn't expected. Okay my little Alaskan drama had already begun and they fed me. Things weren't altogether bad, just uncertain.

So with my immediate future in the balances I was free to check out the place. I was still part of the military service and no-one was accusing me of being a spy - yet. Like I said, they fed me. That was good. No use getting all paranoid.

The Hogan's Heroes theme went with me throughout the next three weeks. I decided maybe I shouldn't unpack just yet.......

I was on a new adventure of the unknown and some 30 years would go by without me even noticing. That only happens when you're really living.