It's a Foggy Perspective

Last night, at about midnight, I opened my e-mail and found a note of desperation dashed off by my husband saying that he was stuck in London and needed $3,000. Since he was sitting across the table from me, I asked him how he was enjoying the sites of the city. He said the weather was better in Alaska. He never has enjoyed fog much.

The frustrating part of the whole “stuck in London” scam is that whatever got in and stole his address book also locked him out. Now he can’t get on his e-mail to send out a “DON’T SEND MONEY!” alert. It’s quite a scam they have going. So if some concerned citizen writes back and asks how to help, a real person will answer, pretending to be my husband. Meanwhile, he is sitting here just fine. He’s not stuck in London at all—he’s stuck in Alaska. Help! Send $3,000!

But there is one good thing that has come out of it all. It has made me realize that things could always get worse. For example: the weather.

In all fairness, fog can be beautiful—in short doses. It has an ethereal quality. It lets you fade into another world. One time, it pulled me into a fairy land. A few months ago, my sister Rachel and I ran into a store in Idaho—it was thick fog outside. When we emerged about 20 minutes later, the world had transformed. The moisture in the air had crystallized in the cold, and it made the world look like the inside of a diamond. Everything glittered—even the air. It was magic.

But the only fog we get up here resembles mud soup. And it saves itself for a time when there is a really pressing reason you need to fly in or out of the village. Then it will magically appear…and your flight will be grounded because no bush plane can fly blind. But for the most part, we don’t have to worry about fog. Our 60 mph winds wouldn’t stand for it.

So we may be stuck in the middle of the tundra somewhere around the Arctic Circle. We may have to boil our water, and hunt and trap our food. It may take two days of flying to reach civilization. But at least we aren’t stuck in London. You know—fog.