Quite a productive week and weekend has passed and it is hard for me to believe that we have already been in Wrangell for 2 months! The days are getting longer here and passing by more quickly.  is nearing his last trip for work in Ketchikan, as the regular Occupational Therapist will be back in the clinic next week. I have been continuing my Insanity workouts, puzzles, and knitting when I am forced to stay inside from the cold and rain.

My blog is late again because this last weekend, I flew down to meet Jim in Ketchikan for the weekend. Ketchikan is a town of about 10,000 people so it is about 4 times the size of Wrangell. It has the population to support larger retail stores and restaurants that we do not have in Wrangell. So, we decided that while he is already down there for part of the week, it gave us a good opportunity to furniture and appliance shop. So last Tuesday I booked my flight to leave Wrangell on Friday the 13th after work and return on Sunday the 15th with Jim. Let me just tell you, that Friday was definitely a Friday the 13th. I am not a superstitious person, but Murphy's Law was in full swing that day because almost everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.

Work that Friday was not terrible, but one of those days when you feel like you are working 500 miles per hour and unable to get things done in the time you thought you could. Small tasks kept arising and I ended up leaving work almost 2 hours later than expected. I kept telling myself, "It's not a big deal. You still have over 2 hours before you need to be at the airport." I came back to the house to rush through some laundry and get the dog situated for care by my roommates while I was gone. I also needed to plan out my packing so that I had the right amount of carry-on and check baggage for our large return to Wrangell. During this time, I also found overdue library books and bills that needed to go in the mail ASAP. I rushed to the Post Office to find we had 5 packages delivered. I knew I had ordered smaller items recently so I decided to take on the chore of carrying them all solo. Let me just tell you - these packages were neither small nor light weight. Oh, and it was raining. By the time I struggled back to the house and finished packing, the laundry had shut off and of course wasn't dry. I had no more time to spare, so I folded up damp pajamas, pants, and t-shirts and stuffed them in my suitcase on the way out the door.

I arrived at the airport at 3:30 for a 4:30 flight and checked in, got my boarding pass, and surrendered my bag to the Alaska Airline employee. "Would you like a name tag for your suitcase?", she said. I replied, "Oh no. It will be okay. I am only flying to Ketchikan." (Ketchikan is a non-stop 30 minute flight from Wrangell with limited passengers boarding and un-boarding.) She sent the suitcase on the belt just as I realized I had forgotten a ticket Jim had given me for the airport ferry in Ketchikan back at the house. "Do I have time to go grab something I left at the house?", I asked the employee. "You should have time. We just need you back by 3:45." I quickly made a trip back to the house to get the ticket, returning to the airport at 3:44. They began boarding shortly after. I put my carry-on items in the plastic bin for the TSA to examine, walked through the terminal without a hitch, and then the scanner started beeping. My pepper spray on my key chain was detected and I was not permitted to take it with me. I told the worker to just throw the spray away, but she refused saying it needed to go out of the area and back in my car. Thankfully someone I knew was next to me and offered to watch my stuff and I slipped my rain gear back on and dashed across the parking lot to put away my "weapon". Needless to say, I was the last person to get through security.

The flight itself was extremely rough. I am not one to complain about flights, because I know it's amazing that we even have access to that luxury, but I will say with the luck I had had all day, the roughness of the flight made me nervous. We flew at about 10, 000 feet with high winds and snow/rain mix. I was really glad to make it back to solid ground. I got off the plane and went straight to the baggage claim area. I knew I only had a few minutes before the ferry, which runs every half-hour, left the airport terminal. The bags came through on the conveyer belt and each passenger picked up their designated bag leaving me sitting with nothing to claim. I approached the man working and told him I was missing my suitcase. "What did it look like?", he responded. I thought carefully. This was not my suitcase. I had borrowed it since it was larger, allowing for more goodies to come with me on my return. I vaguely told him details that I remembered about the luggage and filled out a "missing luggage" report. The man very calmly called to the crew on the plane to have them check for my bag. Of course, this was the one time that I did not put a name tag on my luggage...

After the paperwork was completed and about 10 LONG minutes had passed, a young man stepped through the doorway with my suitcase! The other employee said, "Great!" and ripped up my paperwork and quickly threw it away. Relieved, but still slightly frustrated, I went out in the rain to wait for the next ferry to arrive. The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. Jim was patiently waiting for me at the ferry terminal and I got unpacked and settled into the apartment easily.

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun! We went to see Cinderella (loved it!), bought a mattress and other home supplies to bring back to Wrangell, and shopped around a while for furniture. It was a nice mini-vacation. We got to see a little snow on Saturday - typically, anytime we were walking or carrying something outside it would be snowy and windy, but if we were inside it stayed beautiful. I guess that was a little left over Friday the 13th luck. The flight home Sunday was gorgeous! Mostly clear and sunny, allowing us to see surrounding islands and be reminded of how vast and secluded Wrangell is from any other human life. I am so lucky to be here.

My weekly "God thing":
We all have our "days". There are days that I can hardly find the patience to complete my own sentences, and last Friday was one of those days. Why must those days exist? Why are there days that nothing we do seems to be right or seems to be enough. I would like to think that maybe those days exist to humble us and make us remember who is in control of our lives and what happens when we try to take things into our own hands. It's also maybe necessary to have dark days so that you can have a higher appreciation of our good days. I know this isn't a Bible verse, but it certainly demonstrates a Christian perspective.