One of the things Ross asked me while we still lived in Texas and were getting to know one another was, “What kind of fish do you like?”

I was puzzled and answered, “You know….fish.”

He prodded and asked, “What kind?”

“I don’t know. They are kind of golden, shaped like a rectangle with white on the inside. You know….fish.”

In Texas, our fish in the pond were small and I don’t recall ever really eating them. But God has a sense of humor because He later sent us to live on the Fish River in a remote Eskimo village in Northwestern Alaska. Ross proceeded early on to share that “Fish” story with our entire congregation, who got a great kick out of their new pastor’s wife.

 

Our first summer, a Native woman in the community called and asked, “How many humpies would your family like?”

I was clueless and thought, “We can’t eat that much humpback whale.” But all I said was, “Well, maybe one or two?”

“One or two?” The person was shocked and mentioned something like at least 5 or 6. All I could think of was the huge humpback whale that I’d seen pictures of when I was growing up. I thanked her and wondered to myself, “Gee, how much Humpback Whale can these people eat?”

Humpies are another name for pink salmon…..not any kind of whale. They make wonderful smoked, dried fish.  The  pictures are all of silver salmon — our main course for many meals. And as you can see, my kids learned early on that there’s more in life than just fish-sticks. Later on, this story was also shared with the congregation…..ah, the laughter!