RUN! DON'T RUN! RUN!!!!!!

             I arrived in Yellowknife and was met by my husband's boss who happened to be in town for a couple of days.  He was kind enough to pick myself and the dogs up at the airport.  We dropped the dogs off at a local kennel where they now had to make it their home until I would be able to come back for them.  Then I checked into my hotel and finally made it to the hospital.
          When I arrived the staff told me my husband had been moved to a regular room now on the medical ward and while still being given antibiotics he was out of immediate danger.  The search was over.  I found him.  He was asleep when I walked in.  He looked pale and drained of strength.  The nurse said he was lucky to of made it through the night.  He opened his eyes and was so very happy to see me.  We talked about what was going on and what they were planning to do next with his care.  He ate a little supper but not much and apologized that he was so tired and needed to go back to sleep.  "I am not going anywhere," I told him.  "I will be right here.  So rest your eyes for as long as you need to."
          While I quietly sat there, I started recalling some old memories of our past times together.  I felt relaxed in this big comfy chair and relieved to know that I was here at last and we were together again.  Then one memory in particular came to mind.  I know neither of us would ever forget this adventure.  Just thinking back about it made me chuckle, or at least now I was able to laugh about it, not so much back then!   I'll share it with you and you decide if it's funny or not...
          I call this story, which someday I may publish, RUN!  DON'T RUN!  RUN!!!!!!

          We had been on vacation, visiting with our children and grandchildren in Calgary.  As usual we had a good time.  Part of the reason we were there on this trip was because we were bringing home with us a little Pomeranian puppy named "Biscuit".  He had just been through surgery being neutered, so to help him feel more comfortable on the long 3 day drive home to Inuvik I placed a pillow on my lap and held him there while Neil drove.  Our grandchildren loved Biscuit so we decided to make a photo album of Biscuits journey to Inuvik and then later share it with them.  The kids were young and we thought they would get a kick out of it.  So everywhere we stopped we took pictures.  Biscuit by the Lake happily running through the grass; Biscuit and I posing by a sign that said, Welcome To The Yukon;  we even took pictures of Biscuit in the hotel rooms. 

          Well, our drive was going along smoothly.  About every two hours we would stop and take Biscuit out for a brief walk so he could go pee.  Whitehorse in the Yukon, Territories was our next stop.  The Yukon is a beautiful place to visit.  Lot's of wildlife and vibrant scenery.   So to carry on...you must now keep track as the story unfolds as there will be three incidences that will occur that all refer to "bears".  As I am sure you all know, once you visualize something in your mind it is then stored there to be recalled later at a time of your minds choosing.  Your mind can turn information, that it knows not to be probable, into sudden reality.  This happens without a moments notice.  Like a puzzle, your mind pieces things together, and reaches conclusions, whether logical or not, all by itself -- and I was very soon going find this out first hand.   

          As we drove by a lake Neil pulled over and said, "look a bear."  It was a black bear and he was by the lake eating something.  It was hard to see exactly what he was doing as he was so far away.  So I did my usual, grabbed the camera and got ready to take a picture.  I went to hand Neil the puppy and he said, in a panicked voice, "What?  What are you going to do?"  "I am going to get out and take a picture of the bear," I said.  "No..no..no!" he said.  I was baffled, as this was not the response I was expecting.  He said that he didn't want me to get out of the car as it was a bear.  "Ya, ok," I said, and I again asked him to hold the puppy.  Does this remind you of anything, like the shark story, lol.  He however was very serious and worried that if I got out of the car the bear could come after me and kill me.  I know I raised one eyebrow as I said very slowly..."Don't be silly he is way...way over there."  I figured if that bear started to move I could be in the car and we could be a mile down the road before he would of even reached the highway.  But Neil was so insistent that I finally gave in and just rolled the window down and zoomed the camera in as far as it would go and took a picture.  You can see the bear in the photo, but he's pretty little.  Then on we drove.

            Once we checked into our hotel in Whitehorse, we went for a walk to check out the area.  We stopped and spoke to some people about the Yukon and I mentioned that we had seen a black bear not too far outside of town.  Then I asked, out of shear curiosity, were there ever Grizzly bears seen in this area?  I was told they don't come into town, but they are usually found further North outside of town.  Neil then said, that's where we were headed in the morning as he told the people we were on our way up to Inuvik.  We said good-bye to our new found friends and went back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep.

          It was a beautiful sunny morning and after breakfast we were on our way.  A couple of hours later we stopped for the usual walk for Biscuit and to get out and stretch our legs.  I took Biscuit far back away from the road up along the grassy area close by the trees of the forest.  He seemed to like to sniff everything, typical of a dog.  Anyways,  as we walked I happened to see several strawberry plants that were growing in that area.  "Hmmm," I thought to myself.  "Odd there are no berries on any of the plants."  "I chuckled to myself as I thought, "the bears must have been here already and eaten all the berries ."   Suddenly Biscuit pulled on the leash to head back to the car. 

          As we drove I saw some lovely purple flowers that I did not recognize.  I asked Neil if he knew what kind they were, but he did not know.  So, being the shutterbug that I am, I asked if he would stop for me the next time we saw some so I could get out and take a few pictures.  I think he hoped I would forget as we had made so many stops for photo's already and he just wanted to get home to Inuvik.  Of course, being the woman that I am, I was insistent that we could make one more stop.  So as soon as I spotted a patch of these flowers, which were becoming harder to find, I shouted out "STOP!", which is what he told me to do.  Well maybe not so loudly, but he did stop. 

          I left Biscuit with Neil and got out of the car and looked around.  It was not the best place to of stopped as the ditch was wet and had moss growing all over it.  I thought to myself, "If I tried to go across the ditch here I would most likely sink into the moss and water and get stuck or wreck my shoes."  So I looked for a better place to cross.  I figured if I walk back behind the car a few feet I could cross over the ditch there as it looked dryer.  Then I had to walk around a bush and walk up a small hill area towards the forest to get to this single bunch of wild flowers.  They were lovely and worth the stop.  I was bent over and had taken about 3 or 4 pictures, when suddenly I heard the car horn blaring.  Over and over Neil was honking the horn and through the open car door window he was screaming out at me as loud as he could, "BEAR! BEAR! TORI BEAR!!!!" 

And again more honking and shouting.  I freaked out!!  Absolute panic stuck my entire body!! What was I to do?  My back was to the forest and a bear was standing somewhere behind me!

          So, just so you can understand the next few seconds of my life... think of it as being like what you have seen before in a movie, how people say their life passed before their eyes in a instant, this is similar to that.  My mind must of been racing a hundred miles an hour.  I know my adrenalin was! 

          "Oh my God, there's a bear behind me!  My first instinct was to run, but I stopped myself.  Everything I had previously learned about bears was flooding into my mind...if it's a black bear make lots of noise and don't move, but if it is a Grizzly bear I'm dead either way.  Run! No Don't Run!  No matter what I decided to do next, you need to know that at this point in time I no longer heard or saw anything around me.  My thoughts were all encompassing.  My life was on the line and my self preservation mode had kicked in.   I started to turn my head to look behind me to see what type of bear it was, but then quickly pulled my head back forward.  For some reason I did this a few times, I just could not make up my mind as I thought to myself that if it was a black bear and I made eye contact he would surely attack me and yet if it was a Grizzly bear he would surely swipe me with his huge paw and claws and would rip my face off.  Then the answer finally came to me, if it was a Grizzly bear I was dead no matter what, so RUNNNNNNN!!!!! 

          I am a little overweight and by no means a jogger, but on this occasion I out did myself.  I ran like the wind.  Not as graceful, but with great speed.  Still thoughts flooded my mind, my damn logical mind.  Instead of just running straight for the car, I followed the same path back as the one I took to walk up to where the flowers were.  In my head it all made sense.  I had to go around the bush to get to the dry spot in the ditch because I believed if I ran straight across through the wet moss area I would for sure sink up to my ankles, then fall over as my feet would be stuck in the muck, and of course the bear would kill me.  Well, the race for my life began.  I ran across the grass down the small hill, went around the bush and was headed for the ditch, w.h.e.n...for the first time since all this started, I heard noises around me again.  But this noise did not fit the situation.  I looked up to see where I was in relation to the car and saw my husband.  He had tears pouring down his face.  His face was as dark a red as red could possibly be.  He was holding his chest and stomach as he was in dire pain from LAUGHING so very hard.  It was at that moment that I realized the joke was on me.  I stopped dead in my tracks, looked behind me to see absolutely nothing but trees, a bush and a few flowers. 

          I stood there for a moment to get my breath back, then slowly walked to the car.  Neil, of course, still laughing out of control and muttering, "oh my God my stomach, my stomach...it hurts so much but I can't stop laughing."  I glared at him for the next few minutes while standing outside the car.  I was not laughing.  I'm soooo sorry his said, as he still continued to laugh.  He did not come off as being very sorry at all.  Then he said, "What were you doing?  Didn't you see me laughing?"  "No," I said, I was rather busy running for my life!!  He continues to laugh still.  "You looked ridiculous," he said.  "Where were you going?"  I explained, my logic, and how I had to go around the bush and across the dry spot in the ditch, etc.  He laughed even more, and said "So you didn't think if there was a bear chasing you, that he wouldn't of just run straight through the bush to get you?"  "No," I said.  "I did not think of that, because when you are running for your life, I reiterated,  and have only a split second to make a decision, I guess not all the details come to you so clearly." 

          I got into the car.  My adrenalin still racing, my heart pounding and my hands shaking.  I very calmly promised Neil that revenge would be sweet and that he would never see it coming.  To this day though I still have not followed though on that promise as now we both laugh about the encounter with the bear that wasn't there and how our minds can trick us into believing even improbable things.
          So, tell me what would you of done if you were in my shoes?  Till tomorrow, Tori.