It's Only a Matter of Time

When I first got to Anchorage and met up with the other new hires, we time to shop for and ship things out to our villages. So I found myself wandering the stores during our “marathon shopping” trip trying to figure out what one needs when out in an Alaskan village. The thing we were told was “If you think you’ll crave it, even just once, get it”; which led to my purchase of things I don’t ever eat like pringles, pop-tarts, and even plantain chips(those were just out of curiosity though). My cart was filled with the things that I believed would get me through the first semester; but seriously what do I know, I’ve never moved to an Alaskan village before (I’m sure I’ll be calling home for my family to send me stuff along the way).

Besides food and other household and entertainment items, one thing on my list was to get bear spray. I still haven’t figured out why it’s called that, because I’m pretty sure it’s just pepper spray, but I knew it would be a good thing to have for going out on runs. So I made my way to that area of the store, and of course they only had two choices- a big canister that would be hard to run with, or a value pack which included the type you can carry while running. Needless to say, I left with enough bear spray to last me three lifetimes.

Of course I’m hoping to never need to use it, because in reality I would probably panic and throw the can at the bear/attacker and not actually spray it at them. But having it set me at ease. Until I went for my first run at least..

I think my chances of spraying myself are much higher than the chances of actually encountering any wildlife. They make these things so easy to access the trigger! Out on runs I find that my thumb has a mind of its own and it always makes its way past the little safety flap to sit on the spraying trigger. My brain apparently wants to see what would happen if I got sprayed, and I’m worried that it will happen; sooner rather than later. Then I’d be that girl who blinded herself when she went to Alaska (seriously these are the thoughts that go through my mind). So fingers crossed that I can contain that pesky thumb and keep my vision intact. Oh, also that I don’t need to use it in a real run in with a bear!