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03/15/2009: "The anti-back spasm"

Almost 2 years ago a masseur rubbed a muscle in my back the wrong way and it started to spasm, like when you have a charlie horse. It hasn't stopped, and the more stressed out I get, the more it spasms and sometimes actually pulls ribs out of joint. It's very painful and limits what I can do physically.

I only bring this up because this weekend I went to Gustavus where my husband's family lives. It is the kind of place that I think most Outsiders think of when they dream of Alaska. We flew there in a tiny 4 seater, me sitting in the co-pilot seat.

At the cabin, food is kept in a cool room rather than in a refrigerator and drinking water is collected from melting snow in a big white bucket.

Aaron and I slept in the loft of a tiny a-frame cabin with the pop and crackle of a wood fire below us and it was sooooo cozy.

While there, we didn't listen to the radio, or television, or check our email or go to movies.
Instead we:

went foraging for a Tlingit delicacy at a secret location in Glacier Bay National Park
went cross country skiing in 5 feet of snow
read and read until overcome by sleep, the sun on our faces
walked down a long snowy beach at sunset
snowshoed to a remote field and practiced firing a .22 and a 30 ot 6 rifle (I got a bull's eye!)

I realized on the flight home tonight that my "bad spot" (the area that spasms in my back) hadn't hurt the entire time we were there. That, despite sleeping on a thin mattress on a wooden floor and despite being more active than I've been in months, I felt good. REALLY good. And oh so deliciously relaxed...and inspired.