I was born 9 months, 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor, so it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what brought me about. My father wanted to leave behind a male heir when he went off to fight. I didn't turn out to be male and he didn't get to go fight. He never quite forgave Uncle Sam or me. I didn't know it, but my childhood would give me the skills I would need to survive and to thrive in Alaska, many years later. If you want to read about the perfect Alaskan woman, you have the wrong book. This book is about me.