Wow, it has been awhile.
I REALLY intended to continue my blog while I was in the North. You know, a hardcore assessment of living conditions, working conditions, food situation, and of course a brutally honest "only Lori could say it" commentary on the people I met along the way. I really, really did.
So what happened? A number of things actually...
1. Windows 8 stole my thunder and tried to suck the soul out of me. Nasty, nasty bug, that Windows 8.
2. Coming out of retirement after 5 years was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Just the getting out of bed in the cold, dark mornings and then later trying to sleep through the never-setting sun was really hard on me. Paul whistled as he walked to work. I trudged up that hill by the apartment like I was going to the guillotine. Writing was the last thing I wanted to do.
3. I knew I couldn't do a good job in my blog about Inuvik- the people or the conditions. I was too homesick to be fair. My perceptions, too slewed. And the day I added my first Inuvik friends to Facebook I knew I couldn't ever write what I was feeling. And let me interject here that when I say Inuvik friends I include everyone I met while I was there... the folk from the south, newly arrived or firmly entrenched; the people born there and people who moved in from smaller communities outside of Inuvik - everyone no matter their birth place. I knew that to them, I would come off as a mean-spirited southerner (everyone not from the Beaufort Delta is a southerner no matter where you come from). My critiques and observances would be read as being criticism and vilification. And who knows, maybe they would have been correct in their critiques and observances.
4. It was a good point in my life to stop writing. That blasted novel all neatly typed and filed away on CD-Roms, went with me, but I knew it needed to sit for awhile before I could even begin to attempt the final copy. It still sits today. Probably should get back to it before the technology that reads CD-Roms becomes obsolete!
But I am back in the "south" again. Every morning that there was light I exited our apartment building and looked to the southeast... to home. I think if we had been transported to a beautiful exotic place where all I had to do each day was relax and enjoy the pleasures of life, I would have still missed this rock. Wayne Chaulk says it best, "...this island that we cling to.." I felt many times that I had to apologize to the people around me for not enjoying my Northern experience any more than I was. Recently I sat with friends who we met in Inuvik and tried to explain that it wasn't so much that I didn't like Inuvik, it was my overwhelming sense of having lost something very special that clouded my perceptions.I will never forget the sunrises and sunsets of Inuvik and the days when the sky glowed brilliant pinks and reds and oranges from dawn to dusk. The children of East Three Elementary and their gift of laughter and smiles will always be mine to cherish. The friendships forged in Inuvik, through the daycare, the school and the hospital will last a lifetime. Each time CBC runs an item from Inuvik, I scan the faces to see if I can see a familiar elder who I had met or a child who I taught. I scan Facebook looking for stories from my teaching colleagues - those who are still there and the 7 of us who left the Delta last June. My day brightens immensely when Paul tells me that one of them has asked for me and how I am doing. I still read Inuvik Rant and Rave and enjoy every picture that the school posts on their website. Inuvik touched me and it changed me.
And I will forever be grateful for orange juice that doesn't cost 4.50 a litre.
So folks, I am home! And sending best wishes to all my Inuvik friends.... from Lethbridge with LOVE!
