How Singing About a Chicken May Have Saved My Life

When I was in my early 20's, I worked on a ship called The Seabird in Alaska as a steward. We got 2 days off a month and on one of my day's off, we were in Glacier Bay National Park.

Another crew member was off that day, too, and we decided to get a double sea kayak and kayak around an island we were anchored next to and eat lunch on shore.

We found a neat spot, grounded the kayak and started walking to find a place to eat our sandwiches.

We turned a corner and about 20 feet in front of us was a big, brown bear.

We froze.

She stood up to smell us, and we locked our hands to make ourselves look bigger, flapping our arms on the other side of our bodies like a crazy bird.

When you are face to face with a brown bear, there is no running away. That invites a chase you won't win.

There was no place to go.

We had no bear spray or a gun.

In an incredible moment of clarity, my mind and body sort of split apart and I wasn't scared. I was present to the moment in a hyper-focused way.

This could very well be my time to go.

As we were flapping our arms, I did something very unexpected.

I started to sing a song I first learned as a small girl.

"Oh, I had a little chicken that wouldn't lay an egg, so I poured hot water up and down its leg. The little chicken hollered and the little chicken begged, the darn little chicken laid a hard-boiled egg!"

I sang that song over and over again, at the top of my lungs, while both of us were flapping our arms to make ourselves look bigger.

That bear dropped on all fours, spun around, kicking up dirt and ran off.

And it was over.

Where did I get the idea to sing that crazy song? And props to whoever taught it to me.

I've often thought about that moment.

Instinct is a powerful thing. My body's nervous system came to my rescue while my mind was frozen and I sort of jumped out of my body to witness what could have been my body's gruesome death.

I remember a strange sense of wonder, too.

Would the bear knock us down and then eat us? Would I have to go through the process of being eaten alive?

The weird thing was that I wasn't really terrified until after the moment of reckoning was over.

Then my mind and body re-integrated and I really felt the adrenaline and fear walking over to that kayak to get back to the boat.

I guess that bear figured it wasn't worth the effort to attack the crazy creature it was confronted with and bolted.

But that chicken song...I'm pretty sure it saved my life that day.

Random fact about me: I used to put fish sauce on everything when I was trying to learn how to cook Thai food. My husband was kind and ate my experiments. I married a good one.