I didn't always know I would be a gold miner or that luck would strike me more than once in my life.
Or that from time to time, it would also strike me down.
I now know that those ups and downs are the inevitable predicaments for an adventurous spirit, but it would take me until recently to know precisely why this fate would befall me. I was a strong, independent woman with a strong soul, soft heart, and a keen eye for gold.
Hard lessons were my destiny.
Born in a small town in Saskatchewan in 1964, I heard the whispers of adventure from a very early age: callings to travel the world, discover unexplored land, and risk it all for the pure thrill of a new experience.
It was no surprise to my family when I left home at age 15, beginning what I now describe as my "gold-nugget life." Though mining would not be on my list of adventures until years later, I always knew that gold would find me if I didn't find it first! I was a modern-day Juliet, looking for love and adventure in dangerous places with the wrong people—and I couldn't get enough of it!
In 1996, I found my "Romeo." and he would soon become my husband. Together, we staked claims in the remote Yukon wilderness and began mining for gold. If it was an adventure Brandee Radford sought, I had found it!
Escaping grizzlies, getting lost in the woods, fighting for survival on treacherous mountain roads, learning to run monstrous machinery, and even once flying an airplane, this soon became everyday occurrences. My "Juliet" nature began to transform. Out of the city lights and into the Yukon, my life began to mirror that of the fortuitous vaudeville performer Klondike Kate in ways I could never have imagined. My days were full of travel, fast cars, business meetings, beautiful homes, and thrilling experiences, and the one thing that ultimately stole my heart: those beautiful gold nuggets that pulled us back year after year.
Nevertheless, as any gold miner knows, one minute you're up, and the next, you're down. Like the changing seasons in the treacherous Klondike and the downward luck of Klondike Kate herself, my luck was about to meet its greatest winter. After fourteen years of marriage and what seemed like a never-ending stream of wealth, "Romeo" ended our golden run to be with another woman, leaving me utterly destroyed, emotionally betrayed, and financially ruined.
I experienced heartbreak and devastation more painful than any grizzly attack. I was broke, and I was alone.
Would I ever strike gold again?
As luck would have it, days before my "Romeo" left, I discovered a small coffee can buried on our claim. That discovery would be the key to my next adventure, though my broken heart did not know it yet.
Inside the can was a gold chain I later learned belonged to John Matson, one of Klondike Kate's greatest love’s. I used to ask myself, why me? Why was I meant to experience so much heartbreak and loss—why was I cursed with this adventurous spirit but not given a stronger heart? And why, of all the buried treasure on this land, only this tiny can, and this one gold chain?
Though it has taken me many years to find those answers, I now know that I am not just an adventurer looking for gold--I am a storyteller.
All great storytellers must keep their spirits yearning, hearts soft, and eyes open. The soul of a storyteller seeks adventure, yes, but the heart of a storyteller must break from time to time to know the deep love that springs from profound loss. If not for this fragile heart, I would never understand this chain's deep meaning or continue searching for the kind of love Johnny Matson showed Kate.
As a storyteller, my new adventure is my book, The Chain. It is a story I have carried in my tender heart (and around my neck) for a long time.I have lived through some of the highest highs and lowest lows a human being can face.
However, I would not trade a single moment for the lessons I have learned, and, most importantly, for the stories of the adventurous Gold Nugget Woman who inspired this platform.
That woman is me: author, speaker, storyteller, Brandee Radford.
I hope you see this site as your own adventure in storytelling.
Be inspired, learn new things, follow the changing seasons of my free spirit, explore the history of the Yukon, listen to stories of strong, independent women around the world, hear the whispers of your soul, and, most of all, keep your heart soft and your eyes on the gold.
~ Brandee