My Greatest Adventure

…Started in the unlikeliest of places, Whittier Alaska.  My roommate and I were out for a walk one evening when we passed by the boat harbor and a blue eyed dog started following us.  Since Whittier is such a small community I did not worry about her finding her home.  After awhile a black Mazda pickup drove past, the blue eyed dog took off after it.  When the driver noticed the dog running he stopped and climbed out to let her in, I was to far down the road to see or talk to the driver.  Two days later I went down to the internet and cable shop to pick up the router box for internet in the apartment my roommate and I just moved into.  I knocked on the door waiting for someone to answer little did I know there would be a surprise behind that door.  A very handsome young man answered my knock.  I almost missed his name when he introduced himself I was to busy thinking how cute he was.  He also introduced his dog which to my great surprise was the very same blue eyed dog that joined me on my walk a few nights ago.  I finally had a name for her and her owner, Bathsheba and Glenn.  I visited with Glenn for a little bit while he gathered my router box and cables.  He told me I was welcome to walk Bathsheba whenever I wanted.  I thought that sounded like a great idea, and one I was going to take him up on.

            Once I got Glenn’s phone number I was calling almost daily to walk his dog.  After every walk he would take the time to visit with me for awhile.  About three weeks later I had to fly home for a family emergency.  Glenn found out about it and was eager to do what he could he help. He was quick to offer a ride to the airport.  I already had one but told him I may need a ride back to Whittier when I fly back, he agreed to give me a ride all I had to do was let him know when to pick me up.  About a week later, April 27 2008, Glenn picked me up from the airport.  While deplaning I was talking to Glenn on the phone and he was telling me about his plans to move to Southeast Alaska in January.  I remember thinking; this guy is going to break my heart someday. Little did I know just how that would happen.   He took me out for a late lunch at the Peanut Farm on the drive down to Whittier he began to tell me about his past and how he ended up in Whittier and his long road to becoming the man he was.   I was blown away by his story, here was an amazing, generous, caring, honorable, and an honest to goodness southern gentleman sitting next to me in the car who had at one point been a homeless alcoholic and drug addict.  But that was old Glenn and this was new Glenn, who had turned his life around and over to God.  He liked new Glenn very much, and so did I.  As we were waiting for the tunnel into Whittier to open Glenn asked if I would like to go out with him sometime for coffee now that I knew all about his past, which was all information he felt I needed to know before he asked so that I could make an informed decision.  I suggested we go to Chair 5 for dinner on May first since that was when the tunnel started their extended hours.  So our official first date was set for the first of May, I was really looking forward to it. 

            After that day when Glenn picked me up from the airport we started spending nearly every evening together mostly just walking and talking.  Our first date might have been the first of May but in actuality we started dating the day he picked me up from the airport.  We stared spending all of our spare time together: we would go for walks, take his boat out in Prince William Sound and pull shrimp pots for supper.  We were content to just be with each other. 

            After five weeks of dating Glenn was getting ready to go to Ruby Alaska to build a garage for the company he worked for.  Two days before he left he went into Anchorage to get a few things he was going to need.  After supper that night Glenn went downstairs to get something out of the truck, he came back with a small wrapped package and told me he found a necklace in town for me.  Well, when I opened the box inside was not necklace in there but a ring!  In fact when I open the box I said that isn’t a necklace, Glenn said I know I lied.  He asked me to marry him.  He said that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, he wanted the third and final chapter of his life to be Glenn and Rachel.  He said he did not expect me to answer right away, I could wait to give him an answer two days or two years he didn’t care he just wanted me to know where he was at and where he wanted our relationship to go.  I was speechless, and a bit shocked, mostly because I was expecting a necklace instead of a ring.  I was not shocked that he was asking because I always knew he would ask I just never thought it would be right before he left for the summer.  I did not give him an answer that night, I did make him wait.  Not because I didn’t want to marry him because I did.  I just wanted to see how we handled being apart for most of the summer before I gave him an answer.  Glenn flew home from Ruby in mid June to help the mission group that came from Austin Texas to work on the church cabin, and he was home again in early August for a little bit while my dad was visiting, otherwise he was gone until September.  In late October or early November I gave him back my engagement ring.  Glenn asked why was giving it to him, I told him to ask again.  He got the answer he was looking for that time.  Glenn was so thrilled (as was I) he stated that everything was going to be okay because I would be with him. 

            In January 2009 we quit our jobs packed up our cars and headed on a cross country trip starting in Whittier AK down the west coast to San Diego CA, across to Miami FL, then back up through the Midwest, and ended in Gustavus Alaska, our new home.  We got on the ferry in Whittier with two fully loaded cars and an 80 lb dog.  Glenn’s car we left in Juneau for the three months we were going to be down south and used my car for the 11,000 mile journey.  It was a great trip we visited many great places as well as lots of friends and family.  Occasionally people would call and check in with us to see where we were or if we had killed each other.  We just laughed.  We never fought once on that trip, it was a great adventure.  We knew it would be a breeze to be cooped up in my little fully loaded Subaru with a large dog.  My mother told me if we still thought getting married after that trip was a good idea then it probably was a good idea.  After that trip I was even more certain than ever that it truly was a best decision I ever made to accept Glenn’s proposal of marriage.  

            March 31^st 2009 Glenn and I arrived in Gustavus Alaska, our new home where we hoped to buy property and build our own house.  When we got to Gustavus we had a place to live that would be available in a few weeks, but no jobs.  However we had faith that if Gustavus was where we were meant to live then everything would work out and it did.  Within two weeks Glenn was working all sorts of handy man jobs around town that kept him busy all summer and by winter he was working for Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.  I started working at a local lodge and grocery store in June, when the tourist season starts in Gustavus.  By the end of July I was hired to work seasonally at the park.  In October we bought 10 acres in Gustavus and got married the same week. 

Glenn and I were married on October 4^th 2009 on the Mississippi River in a paddle wheel boat out of La Crosse WI.  We decided it would be easier for everyone if the two of us flew down instead of everyone flying up. Since we were not getting married in Alaska we wanted to get married on the water.  The weather that day was a typically damp, chilly, gray, and overcast Southeast Alaska day.  It was nothing like an early October day in Wisconsin should be.  We laughed and told everyone we had to bring a part of Alaska to our wedding.  Our wedding day was the happiest day of my life.  I had absolutely no reservations about marrying Glenn.  If fact the only time I was nervous or had butterflies that day was the two or so hours we spent apart before our ceremony.   As soon as he left to go to church I started to get nervous, and it got worse as I went to get my hair and make-up done.  All it took to calm my nerves was to simply seeing him standing there waiting for me and looking very handsome in his suit.  It literally was like someone flipped a switch in my gut.  I instantly felt better just be seeing him.  Later on I told Glenn it, he said that was exactly how he felt too.

After being married for six months Glenn was diagnosed with cancer on a Thursday by Tuesday he had surgery and Friday he was home again cancer free.  That was a terrifying experience.  Lucky it was caught early and action was taking fast enough that the tumor was remove with surgery.  He was one of the lucky few that only needed surgery and no further treatment was needed besides yearly check ups to make sure the cancer had not returned.  Once we survived that scare we figured we were good to go for the next twenty to thirty years at least.  How naive of us, if anything else it should have reaffirmed how precious every moment really is. For us it was such a short whirlwind of an experience that it didn’t seem all that real other then the scar he had from the surgery to remind us both it was real and it did actually happen.

We have spent the last couple of years planning out our home and this past winter on Christmas Day we laid down the first stick of lumber on the foundation of our home.  We spent everyday this winter, no matter what the weather, building our home.  By the middle of March we had 800 square feet framed, dried in, and a roof on.  Not to bad for only two people, of which only one was a skilled carpenter.  This summer I have another 300 square feet to pour cement for, frame, and roof.  The amazing and wonderful community of Gustavus wants to do a barn raising weekend and finish our home for me.  It is going to a beautiful home I am looking forward to being able to move into the home that Glenn and I worked so hard on. 

            Around 11:30 on Thursday morning April 26 2012, my worst nightmare became a reality.  I was at work when I heard the 911 tones on the radio. I stopped to listen to what was going on.  When I heard the voice on the radio I thought that is odd.  Glenn is working there today I wonder what is happening, and then she said Glenn was lying on the ground motionless.  I backup up from the radio so fast as if I had been bitten.  My coworker was standing by me she said I needed to leave I needed to go there now.  I could hardly move but she got me moving to the jeep.  She drove to town and where Glenn was.  I was praying so hard the whole way there.  I kept hoping he would be sitting up and annoyed that everyone was fussing over him, but then I heard the request for an immediate med-evac.  I knew then that it was so much worse then that.  When we got there I jumped out of the car and ran across the street.  I saw people performing CPR on my husband, I nearly collapsed my legs gave out from under me.  The district ranger for the park was already on scene when we got there and he caught me and told me it was very bad but they were doing everything they possibly could to save Glenn.  He had me go back to the car to wait, and he would keep me updated.  It seemed like I waited an eternity before my boss and the district ranger came to tell me that Glenn was gone.  My world had suddenly shattered into a million pieces.  The community of Gustavus has surrounded me with love and support which has been amazing and very helpful.  I am so very grateful that we chose to make Gustavus our home, we couldn’t have picked a better place.     

If I had known four years ago what I know now I would have still said yes to that first date.  To miss out on all the wonderful things we did and the love we shared would just not be an option.   Not everyone is as lucky as we were.  Most people do not meet the love of their lives, we did.  Glenn recognized it sooner than I did, but on some level I always knew.  It just took a little bit for my brain to catch on to what my soul already knew.  It truly is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all, no matter how clichéd that is I know for a fact it is true.  Four years is better than none at all and I thank God everyday that I was blessed with four amazing years.  I also find myself asking why we were only given four, when we wanted so much more.  Even though losing my best friend, husband, and soul mate is the single most painful and gut wrenching thing I will ever experience I would not have traded the last four years if my life, for anything because my life would never have been complete without Glenn.  I take great comfort in the fact that we made each other very happy, and he may not be here on Earth anymore but I know he is looking down from Heaven and watching over me and he lives in my heart and in the hearts of everyone who knew and loved him.  I will see him again someday when I am called home to be with the Lord.  I find peace in that knowledge and I hang on to it with every fiber of my being, and I am look forward to that day when I will join Glenn in Heaven.  I truly believe he was an angel here among us.  Just looking around our small community I see the pieces of himself he left all around town in the work that he did.  And in the packed church during the celebration of his life I could clearly see that in all the lives he touched.  I plan to honor his memory by completing our home, going on that vacation we were planning this winter, and going back to school to get my masters and PhD like we had planned.

Thank you Lord for the gift that we were all given by knowing and loving Glenn. He truly was a man of God, and I am truly blessed and extremely proud to be Glenn’s wife.

My husband, Glenn Chunn, died eight weeks ago today.  I continue to miss his terribly but I keep going one day at a time just like he would wish.  Today is one of the first sunny days we have had here in Gustavus since he died, I bet he had something to do with that. He will be with me always and someday I will be with him again.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I know it has been a long time since I last posted I am going to try and post regularly again.

R. A. Chunn