#30 Describe five memories-events you remember really well.  Then take one of them further.  
 1.  I made Al Franken laugh.  Before he ran for the Senate, Al Franken was writing political books and had started a PAC.  Critic’s of Franken said that the PAC consisted of Hollywood money.  When I went to one of his book signings, I said, “It was a pleasure to donate all of my Hollywood money to your PAC.”  That got him laughing.

 
2.  I went on an Alaskan cruise with Barbara and Eric H.  They had wanted to visit me in Alaska and we decided it would be fun to see a part of the state where none of us had gone.  When we were docked in Juneau we took a helicopter trip to Mendenhall Glacier. This was the first time I had seen a glacier and I was absolutely mesmerized by the blue color of the ice in the crevices.  I imagine the sky in Heaven is that color blue because it is absolutely perfect.

3.  Our senior year of high school we did Little Shop of Horrors and our school rented the costumes from UMD.   A group of us drove up to Duluth to pick up the costumes.  This car ride and day in Duluth is something that Shawn, Sue, Kerry and I still talk about.  It was the perfect day of the semi-freedom your senior year in high school provides.

4.  One time I threw a party out of spite. People were getting on me because I never had people over.  I didn’t want to have people over so I decided that I wanted to make sure that it was the lamest party ever.  I told everyone that the party was going to have a poetry reading.  I said everyone was going to have to read a poem.  It ended up being the best party I ever threw.
Here is the poem I wrote for the occasion:

The Tundra is like a movie theater floor
O.K. I’ve never seen popcorn covering tundra
like a theater is covered after a matinee of Lilo and Stich
But they are alike

Random pop cans (hey, we don’t sell that here)
candy wrappers
your shoes get sticky
both are hard to walk on
they have their own unique smell

They both take your breath away the first time you see them.
Why do you think they keep theaters dark?

5.  The day I moved to Alaska.

I shall expand on the the day I moved to Alaska….

The day I moved to Alaska I woke up at four in the morning to get to the airport.  I was taking an unusual flight path.  I was flying Minneapolis, to Chicago, to Seattle, to Anchorage, to Kotzebue.  I was taking that route because I had gone for the cheapest airfare.  Even the cheapest ticket was super expensive.  My brother Shawn ended up loaning me the money to buy the ticket. (Don’t worry, I paid him back.)  My Dad, my brother Eric and my sister Heidi drove me to the airport.  This was about a month before the September 11th terrorist attacks so they were able to go all the way to the gate with me.  We sat and waited for me to get on the plane.  It was a pretty solemn occasion.  A few minutes before boarding started I went and used the restroom.  When I came out Barbara and Eric H. were standing there holding signs that said “Alaska or Bust” and “We will miss you Heather Lena”  it was pretty adorable.  There were lots of tears and I said my goodbyes.

When I got to Seattle I used a payphone to call home to tell them that I had made it as far as Seattle.  When my mom answered, she told me that Eric was in the hospital with pneumonia.  She joked that my moving to Alaska almost killed Eric.  Thankfully, he didn’t die.

In Anchorage, things started to get a little more real.  When we flew in to the city I saw the mountains and I realized that this was the first time I had ever seen a mountain.  When I got off the plane I stood at a large window just looking at the mountains.  The gate area had a huge stuffed bear. The people waiting in the gate area looked like people who were going on a camping trip.  I found a chair and sat waiting for the flight to Kotzebue.  While I sat staring into space I heard people mumbling, “Do you think that’s Faith’s cousin?” (My cousin Faith had been teaching in Alaska for quite a few years and had told her friends to be on the lookout for me in the airport.)  I turned and waved at the people and told them that I was Faith’s cousin.  Talking with them helped calm my nerves.  I had no idea what I was getting into and it made me happy to know that these ladies had survived and loved it.  They assured me that if they could do it, I could do it to.

When we got to Kotzebue we had to exit the airplane walking down the steps on to the runway.  This was a first for me.  When we walked into the airline terminal there were a bunch of people there to welcome everyone.  I was met by my cousin’s husband and their little girl.  We grabbed my bags and went outside and strapped them on to the four wheeler.  I took my first ride on a four wheeler with four bags and three people.  We went straight to the welcome barbecue and when I got off the four wheeler I noticed that my jeans were splattered with mud.  I was really embarrassed thinking I’d make a horrible impression but it turned out that no one noticed or cared.  That night I got to meet a bunch of teachers from Selawik.  It was so much fun to put faces with the names I had heard.

After the picnic we went to Faith’s house and I played outside with her daughter.  Their house was right on Kotzebue sound so we spent a few hours throwing rocks into the water.  I was starting to get tired and I looked at my watch and it was 1 AM!!!  It was still bright at day out.  Alaska was three hours behind Minnesota so my brain was thinking it was 3am.  I had been awake for 23 hours.  Eventually, I was able to lay down and go to bed.  A pretty successful first day in Alaska.