Y2K AKA Armageddon

I knew astrology was real when my chart read:

“Most likely to live in a tent”. 

Let's be clear it wasn't an actual tent.

It was a tipi.

I had been offered an invitation to live in a spiritual Community in Alaska and to continue my studies of Macrobiotic cooking & philosophy, after finishing up a few months of work study at The Kushi Institute in Becket, MA.

(The macrobiotic diet was developed by a Japanese philosopher called George Ohsawa. It is a strict diet with rules about what you eat and how you cook your food. Macrobiotics emphasizes locally grown whole grain cereals, pulses (legumes), vegetables, edible seaweed, fermented soy products, and fruit combined into meals according to the ancient Chinese principle of balance known as yin and yang)

Invited to experience a like minded Community.

At least that’s what I told people. Really it was summer of 1999 and everyone was freaked out about Y2K being the end of the world. My Jehovah’s Witness mind was in full alert. 

(Y2K was commonly used to refer to a widespread computer programming shortcut that was expected to cause extensive havoc as the year changed from 1999 to 2000 at the turn of the Millenium.)

I was 24, three months pregnant and it was the end of the world.

Y2K. Call it whatever you want but it was just Armageddon to me. Of course I would never admit that to my mother. I needed to get as far away from her as possible. Mom had to limit the time she spent with me anyhow. There were only so many excuses she could make to The Elders of the congregation for speaking to her “disfellowshipped” aka “shunned” daughter.

But Mom was an opportunist and she took full advantage of every minute spent to make sure I understood her disappointment. Sex without marriage seemed to be her main concern these days so to keep the peace I married the father of my child and we left for Alaska that November. 

It was good for a while. I enjoyed cooking with groups of people. We made everything from scratch from pickles to miso soup daily. We pounded sweet rice and made mochi. We fermented soybeans to make natto. The kitchen was a place I came alive. 

Coming to Alaska in the winter wasn't a very well thought out plan. It was gray most of the day. It felt like the sun would come up only half way and quickly turned away again. I felt sad, alone and scared. After a few months I began to see the reality of the situation. This lifestyle was not for me. I began to feel the unspoken. It was like the fog cleared and I could see more clearly the reality of what I had signed up for. 

When I woke up 9 months pregnant in my tipi the morning of 01-01-2000 all I heard was endless silence. Like a ringing in your ears.

Did the world die?

I heard no sound.

Then I heard a bird chirp.

In the distance I heard some rustling sounds.

Was it all still as I knew it?

Did we have electricity?

Would life go on?

As a Community we had done many test runs of turning the electricity off voluntarily. We would do a few days and evaluate how we had done. We really didn’t need that much. We had fire to keep us warm and cook our food on. We had the cold of Alaska for refrigeration. We had candles to light our table. We had great conversation to entertain ourselves.

Treading through the snowy path from tipi village to the main house I chose my steps wisely. The snow was very high on the sides of the path. Moose were the major concern. Not that they would hurt you on purpose but they like to run the paths. The first thing they warn you of on arrival is to stay clear of a mama moose and her baby.

“Never look them in the eye" was the warning that stood out to me. 

As I walked that path keeping an ear out for sounds of anyone coming up the path I wondered if I wanted something to have happened. 

I’m not sure if I wanted the world to still be as I knew it.

What if nothing changed?

What if the catastrophe I had given all my energy to didn’t happen?

As I arrived at the main house my discovery that the world went on wasn't as joyful as it was for everyone else. Everyone was celebrating.

But my world had crumbled.

The reality hit me.

I let fear be in control.

I let it climb into the driver's seat and put the pedal to the metal.

I was in trouble. 

I was pregnant by a man I hardly knew and my relationship wasn't going as well as I had hoped. I was sleeping on a futon in a tipi in the middle of the woods of Alaska. Our baby would arrive any day. I heard the whispers that any baby born in the Community belonged to the Community.

I realized “Community” might just be another word for “Cult”.

The harsh reality sunk in. 

I had repeated the Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Truman Show was all that came to mind. The scene where Jim Carrey sails away in his boat but he hits the backdrop of the movie set. Confused he reaches up and pulls down the backdrop. He reveals the truth.

It was all a lie.

It was all a show.

But it was all he ever knew.

“Recovering from the Jehovah's Witness Mind”

Short stories by Regina Olson