Fast Friends

Mushaholic Lilian

My Facebook page indicates I have 344 friends. Of those, probably 300 are mushing buddies, none of whom I'd met in person until this trip to Alaska.

Many folks have commented to me that Facebook is a waste of time, too invasive, not worth bothering with. I beg to differ. Quite by accident in 2011 I discovered that Facebook is THE place to watch dogsled races and share stories, photos and opinions with people the world over. My Mushpeeps range from Canada to Mexico, from England to South Africa, from Norway to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as throughout the United States. We all share an admiration of sled dogs doing what they love to do and the mushers who are the weakest link in the team.

One of those Swiss friends is directly responsible for my volunteering for Iditarod this year.

Lilian has come to Alaska for the Iditarod every year since 2001. She likes to say that she and Lance Mackey were rookies the same year. When I began to entertain the notion that I could attend Iditarod, she encouraged me to volunteer. When she's not catching up with her multitude of Alaskan friends, she spends time at Iditarod Race Headquarters in the communications room, stats and the phone room.

It all sounded like a great idea to me, so I put in my application.

Lilian and I met in person the morning after I arrived in Anchorage, as we got together for breakfast with another brand new friend, Pam, who will be the subject of a following post.

For the three of us, it was as though we'd known each other forever. There were no uncomfortable silences, no wondering "what am I doing here?" We laughed and talked and broke bread together for what seemed like seconds, yet it must have lasted close to two hours.

From then on, it seemed everywhere I went in Anchorage, Lilian would pop up.
The Alaska Public Lands Building. The Banquet. The Millenneum Hotel. The race restart. The one place we shared that we didn't see each other was the Ceremonial Start. But then we were two among thousands. Based on the pictures she posted later, I should have seen her. We were just about in the same place!

While she was in Alaska, she took loads of photos and told me I could share them, so you'll be seeing some of her pictures in my blog posts, properly credited, of course.

Lilian knows everyone, everywhere. What a joy it was to get to spend time in her company.