A True Alaskan

There are so many milestones that you reach to become a true Alaskan.
-Your first hunt
- your first moose encounter
- your first winter
- your first PFD check
- your first trip to the dump and bringing back a treasured find
- your first pair of Mukluks or beaver hat.
 All of these are important to making us true Alaskans, Keith and I have accomplished many of these but I can (NOT) so proudly tell you I have reached a FIRST in the Milestone division BEFORE Keith. I was not happy about reaching this milestone when it happened because for 3 years I have been against the whole thing because I felt it was wee bit tacky. Let me explain.... IN Alaska there is one fact that EVERYONE knows. DUCT TAPE FIXES EVERYTHING!!! EVERYTHING!!! Even clothes. It is very common to see people put duct tape on the coats, pants or any other article of clothing to patch the holes. It is a very ALASKAN thing to do. Some towns in Alaska even have duct tape balls, where people make their best duct tape clothes and have a dance and a competition. As I said before, I found it a bit tacky, at least for the first 3 years here in Alaska. Then it happened....While in Fairbanks, my parka decided to pick a fight with our truck and sadly it LOST!  A BIG tear tore across my sleeve and feathers started to fly everywhere!  I quickly tried to cover the hole and garb the feathers as they floated to the snow. Of course our supply of duct tape was depleted and so I asked the front desk for any and all they had was masking tape.....Point of Fact: Masking tape doesn't fix anything!!  It fell off after about a minute. Eventually we had to wrap the making tape around my whole sleeve till we could get some duct tape to do the job. Friends said I was a true Alaskan now, so I wear my duct tape with pride! The day we got back from Fairbanks my parka got in a fight with something else on the other sleeve so at least now I have a matching set of sleeves. On my way to a True Alaskan and can mark the Duct tape on your jacket off my Milestone list! =)