A Baby, a Trip and a Guest

So we are at the halfway point for my favorite season and I’m super busy. 

(Those leaves aren’t going to peep at themselves ya know!)

But mostly, I’m blessed.  I have many wonderful things to be thankful for and the biggest right now is a new baby in the family who happens to be my first niece! 

I’m already an aunt.  And though I would like to think I’m a great aunt to all my nephews I happen to be a great aunt biologically to 2 of my youngest nephews.  But this is the first time I’m an aunt to a little niece and I am so excited!! 

So excited, in fact, that I’m hopping on a plane to visit her, family and some other dear friends who are family as well, including a teen who is my unbiological niece.  So does that mean I already have a niece?  I’m not sure and I guess it doesn’t really matter too much.  I’m just so excited for the visits!  

I know, I’ve used the word excited several times in this intro.  It’s just because I’m, well, excited!!!!!

So as I was packing and thinking about this month’s blog, I was happy to read an email from Melissa Cook who asked if she could guest blog for me.  I get these requests fairly often and I don’t always take the fellow contributer up on it. 

But in this case, I was interested for several reasons-  

1. Melissa is super cool  

2. I’ve always been fascinated by Alaska  

3.  She also uses humor in her work which, to me, is CRUCIAL.   

4. Did I mention baby?  Trip? Friends?  Family?   

I hope you all enjoy the rest of this beautiful season!!!

I Love to Laugh by Melissa Cook

I love to laugh. I laugh every day. The Mary Poppins’ song “I love to laugh, loud and long and clear” couldn’t be more true for me. So, when I wrote my memoir, “The Call of the Last Frontier: The True Story of a Woman’s Twenty-Year Alaska Adventure,” I made sure to include humor whenever I could squeeze it in. We asked beta readers to note in their manuscripts when they smiled or laughed to ensure my attempts at humor were successful.

Following a serious story about waking up nearly blind and having to fly from my tiny logging community on Prince of Wales Island by floatplane into Ketchikan to see an eye specialist, I decided to lighten the mood a bit for my reader. Here is how I ended that chapter.

“Humorous moments arose when teaching with MS, though. The next fall, a new fifth-grade student arrived at the door of my fourth-seventh- grade classroom. Periodically, stress and fatigue caused language and vertigo symptoms affecting my interaction with students. They knew of my issues, what to expect, and how to help when necessary. I pulled up a chair to share this information with the new boy.

‘I could tell you are sick,’ he responded when I finished.

‘You could?’ I inquired in wonder. I was okay that morning; he shouldn’t have noticed. ‘How did you know?’

‘I can see it in your hands!’ I looked at my colorful stained hands. The class had tie-dyed T-shirts the previous day. I smiled with a giggle inside.” (Chapter 50)

Not all of the funny stories in “The Call of the Last Frontier” are related to MS. I began the chapter title “It’s Winter Again” with a quick funny.

“It was winter again! Snow and ice covered the landscape. Daylight dwindled to seven hours on the shortest days of winter, all of which took place during the workday. And the long days of loneliness and cabin fever were once again upon us.

Humor lurked around the corner, though. One morning I slipped outside in my pajamas to drive Elgin (my husband) to school. Thin ice coated the truck, and the door refused to open. I repeatedly tugged and pulled on the handle. Nope, it was not going to open.

“The door is frozen shut again,” I hollered.

“Unlock it,” Elgin replied.” (Chapter 65)

Ah, I wish all the answers in life were so easy.

Don’t you hate it when you first realize MS is raising its ugly head? I know, I do. On more than one occasion, I unfairly blamed MS. When Yvonne deSousa agreed to my guest post, she requested something funny and related to MS. I promptly thought of all the times I blamed MS for something stupid. Here is an example.

Reading a book in the living room, I decided to check on a roast in the oven. Lost in thought, I made my way to the kitchen, checked the roast, and then looked around the room. “Everything is blurry. Dang, it! My MS is acting up again.”

“You have your reading glasses on,” my husband reminded me. Isn’t it a relief when you realize there is a perfectly good explanation for an MS symptom you are experiencing, and it’s NOT multiple sclerosis?

I hope you have enjoyed this little collection of short funnies. If you or someone you know has an interest in adventure stories, life in remote Alaska, or my MS journey, check out my new book, “The Call of the Last Frontier: The True Story of a Woman’s Twenty-Year Alaska Adventure