The Way of the Viking

"When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny." - Paulo Coelho (The Devil and Miss Prym)

In the past weeks, I've been challenged to redefine my sense of self - not as who I've been - but by who I could be. I'm throwing off the bowlines of the past, as Mark Twain counsels:

"Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

What better place to heed such advice than Petersburg, Alaska - home of the Vikings?

This past week my sails have caught wind, and I am off to discover!

As you may have noticed, authors and books have been on my mind. To my great delight, I was offered the position at the local bookshop! I have loved books as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories involve reading books with Mom (well, Mom read them as I listened and amused myself with the pictures and pages). My favorite had to be The Monster at the End of This Book, where I would audaciously turn each page while Mom playfully pleaded against it and held the pages down. I believe that enjoying those early books largely influenced who I am today. My love of reading books, imagination, and learning has never waned (well, perhaps slightly in the midst of graduate school...). Books are comforting and powerful - they let us dream; they keep us grounded.

Sing Lee Alley Books is housed in a historic residence, built in the 1930's. It is a beautiful, big, white house that once served as a boardinghouse to fishermen and schoolteachers. It sits gently tucked off of Sing Lee Alley, the center of early Petersburg, just off the middle harbor.

When I submitted my application, I was told that working at the bookshop is like going back in time to the 1950's. I thought to myself "sounds like most any other place in town." The book inventory is kept on rolodex cards. The old cash register functions more like a calculator with a drawer than anything else, since it doesn't keep track of sales. For each book sold, I mark a tally on its rolodex card, and the money goes in the drawer. No burdensome sales reports or register balancing at the end of the day. Delightful! After only a 2-hour introductory training, I am slated to independently open and run the shop for a few days next week. I don't think I've ever before been so excited to start a new job.

And the wind at my sails has not stopped there.

I now hold the somewhat daunting privilege of being known as "Mrs. O'Leary, substitute teacher." I spent three days walking the halls of Petersburg High, filling in for the math teacher / volleyball coach who was at an away game in Sitka (and by away, I mean away). Here the sports teams must fly or ferry overseas to challenge other school teams. That's nothing new for this community of Norwegian heritage.



In what felt like a whirlwind tour of highschool mathematics, I taught 12 classes in 3 days. Calculus, PreCalculus, PreAlgebra, Geometry, Basic Geometry... I did so well that I surprised the students - the calculus students exclaimed to me, "we've never had a sub that could answer our questions before... have you taken a lot of math classes?" Oh, have I... though I never dreamed I would be teaching them, and teaching them well.

At the end of each day, I was more surprised of myself than anyone.

What a difference one week can make. My sails are set; I'm ready to explore and discover. Maybe I am a Viking after all. C'mon winds - bring it on!