Did I Say Resilient?

I could not resist this meme because I think it personifies the attitude that Alaskans have.

It seems from our perspective up here that it is best to move on quickly–no matter what comes your way.  There simply is no time to retreat into self-pity.  We are survivors!

My family to Alaska in 1964,  immediately after the last “big one.”  (I think this qualifies me to truly be a pioneer of Alaska (another word is a sourdough, the opposite of which is cheechako, which means you are definitely new to Alaska).  We lived through the 1967 flood in Fairbanks which did take a very long time back then to recover.  We returned to our home across the street –there was 4 feet of water for a couple days–after just three days.  I was just ten, but I have vivid memories of the murkey water rolling into our yard and carrying away my pink Schwinn bike.

I’ve been interviewing people from Anchorage as they come to the inn to query how things fared for them during this earthquake.  Answers like, “just a little broken glass” or “no real damage” seem to be quite common.  I’m sure there are those with much more damage, but with no deaths or severe injuries, we are very thankful.