Stori: the story of us

It was 5 years ago this month that my husband and I had our first official date. It was 2 years prior to that the first time he asked me out. My husband is brilliant, but fast he is not.

It all started at a wolf trapping school put on by the Alaska Trapper's Association. Every year, the club holds a general trapping school held in October, and most years a wolf trapping school held in January. I was working in the pharmacy at that time with my friend/pharmacist/boss Jeanie. Jeanie is an amazing cook from Louisiana, very cajun style of cooking. Her husband was a member of ATA and the club asked her to cook for the 3 day school. She in turn asked me to come up and help, it was my 2ND helping out at the schools. The school is held at Twin Bears Campground, about 30 miles outside of Fairbanks up Chena Hot Springs Road. Marc's trapping partner Jim Walters was putting on the school, and with Marc also a member, he was at the school to volunteer. It was one cold weekend! The first day, Friday, the temps were hovering right around -50 below zero. I was very glad I had drove up with Jeanie and her family. I had Paige with me who was only 4 at the time. The next day, we were in the cookhouse. Jeanie, our friend Charlie, and I were cooking. Paige and Jeanie's daughter, Amie, were playing cards. A couple guys were sitting around the barrel stove lieing to each other, the rest of the students and helpers were outside setting trail, or in the classroom for a lesson. I was standing at the cooking range stirring a big pot of Jambalaya when this horrible smell hit me like a punch in the face. I turned around to see what was so offensive and there he was.

Standing in the door way like some giant mountain man. Wolf hat and face mask, bunny boots, refridgerwear outer clothes, holding out a string of 6 frozen martin (weasel type fur bearers), and all 6 foot 2 inch, 250 lbs. of him reeking of wolf urine. He was the horrible smell. He had accidentally spilled some wolf scent on him and it was potent!! He asked me if I minded if he thawed out the martin over the cook stove. Definitely not a homey kitchen smell I would imagine.

Later that night after supper, we were all sitting around having a drink and visiting. Some folks, Jeanie's husband Jimbo mostly, were playing some bluegrass music. There was only 3 females at the school that year, and I was the only single one. Marc had sat there the whole evening watching me turn guys down when I guess he started feeling brave. He asked me out for supper sometime, I said yes, I just didn't know it was going to be 2 years later. The day of the school was Sunday and we woke up to -62 below zero. Our cooking range ran off of propane and it was cold enough to freeze the propane in the bottles. We had no lights, the generator's battery and exploded during the night after it had froze solid, no way to cook, and only a barrel wood stove for heat in the cook shack. That morning when Paige and I woke up in our little cabin, our hair was frozen to the wall. It was the coldest I had ever seen it. Jeanie and I were sitting there having a cuppa when Marc and Jim walked in with torches. They were on their way outside to hold open flames on the propane tanks to thaw out the liquid enough to turn it back into gas, so we could cook breakfast. The only thought I had was that crazy bastard was going to kill us all in a fiery explosion, but at least we'd be warm.

After the school, Marc would drop by the pharmacy at least once a week to visit. For the next two years, we would run into each other at various events. Trapping schools, ATA end of the year Spring Flings. It was at one of the Spring Flings when it all really started going. My family and I had decided to quit Alaska and were planning on a move down to Montana. My parents had already accepted an offer on their cabin and I had given a tentative notice to the pharmacy. My friends were throwing a semi going away party for me at a local bar the week following the Spring Fling. On a complete whim, I invited Marc to drop by. We had a great time at the party, the house sale fell through, my family decided not to move, and the wheels of fate had started to turn. We followed up with an actual date to a comedy show the next week, which Marc stopped at the dump on the way, should have been a sign for me. We have been inseparable ever since.

We dated only 6 months before we were married. But were engaged 4 months in. In life, some things just work out the way they are supposed to and it fits just right. We were married September 25Th, 2004 in my parents back yard. Jeanie was my matron of honor. We had a potluck, and a bonfire. We had just finished building the barn, so we gave many new barn tours. It was a perfect evening.