When You Come to a Bend in the River
When people make historic documentaries, they sometimes interview people who experienced a famous event. I have often heard people tell the story of what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.
As our bed and breakfast host drove us to downtown Anchorage two weeks ago, he told us about his experiences related to the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. I hate to admit this, but I’m not sure I had ever heard of the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, which measured 9.2 on the Richter scale and was therefore the second most violent earthquake ever recorded on earth (the most violent occurred in Chile in 1960). The 1964 Alaska earthquake was so strong that fishing boats sank in Louisiana!
The earthquake damaged many buildings in Anchorage. Our host gave the earthquake credit for delaying his stint in the army by two weeks. He was in the midst of being inducted (he later served in Vietnam) and had an appointment on that day or the day after. The army official told him to go home for a couple of weeks until things settled down.
After our day in Anchorage, we rode a train to Denali National Park. At lunch time, we enjoyed festival seating in the dining car. Festival seating is being required to sit with folks you don’t know because space is limited.
We were paired with an older couple who had been in Alaska for several decades. He had come first, moving to Alaska in 1940 when he was 26 years old. We enjoyed hearing their stories.
I asked him about the 1964 earthquake. He looked across the table at me and said, “Actually, I don’t remember much because I was drunk.” That was not the answer I expected.
He went on to say that he had gotten a “Dear John” letter from his wife that day. He was at home alone with their five children and was drinking when his children came to him and told him what was happening. He told about going outside of their trailer and watching the ground move like ocean waves.
We already knew that this couple had both been married before because they had told us about his children and about hers. We have enjoyed many stories about people’s children and grandchildren, but these were the first we had heard about riding to school on a dog sled and working as a cook for a dog mushing team. These were not tourists headed to Denali National Park as we were; they were on their way to see one of his children in Fairbanks.
Though I now knew that our festival seating partner had had a very bad day on March 27, 1964 and had tried to drown his troubles in liquor, he had obviously not remained in a stupor in his trailer for the last fifty years.
I looked at him across the table and praised him for raising those five children. I told him that not every man would have done so. He looked back at me with gratitude and said thank you.
Sometimes parents just have to buck up and do what needs to be done even when the circumstances are far from ideal. Just before we sat down for lunch I had taken this photo of a bend in a river:
You mamas buck up and do what you have to do every day and at every bend in the river. Keep up the good work!
Pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness.
1 Timothy 6:11, NASB