Misadventures of a Midlife Married Couple

We just spent our first holiday in Noatak, and it was the first holiday we have spent 100 percent away from any family. THAT part of it had a few sad moments, but overall it was not difficult, we do find that as long as we are together we can figure out a way to enjoy ourselves.

I have to admit that this Thanksgiving was NOT what we were planning. Our intent was to join the community at the community feast, immerse ourselves in our local traditions, and explore the culinary traditions like frozen trout with a side of seal oil. That didn’t happen.

I have been fighting an upper respiratory battle for a couple of weeks, (I DID do a Teledoc appointment and had meds on the way.. but they seemed to take much longer than normal to get here! They finally arrived yesterday!) and the incessant coughing and lack of sleep had worn me down. I was just not feeling up to peopling, nor did I want to accidentally infect anyone since I seem to have been running an ongoing low grade fever for a week or so. To be fair, I get this crap every year and I was prepared… I came up with steroids, antibiotics, and solid supply of Mucinex and albuterol. But Marty got sick several weeks ago and I gave him the antibiotics, and we searched high and low for my Medrol (which I have used since we have been here) to no avail. I was able to snag some prednisone for a couple of days because Bosley had a script… so yes, I self medicated with the dogs steroids. They made a dent but the dosage was much lower than I take and the supply limited.. So I have spent two weeks waiting on my script and medicating with over the counter meds.

ANYWAY, Marty prepared our delicious meal… we had baked ham, mashed potatoes, corn, mac and cheese, and stove top stuffing… and it was fabulous. I had made a pineapple/cherry dump cake for the feast so we even had desert. Once again, gotta shout out to my amazing husband for all he has done since we’ve been here. He has become the primary cook, does the cleaning (including most of my laundry), and has now become a very attentive nurse. I could not do this without him.

Moving on.. Gratitude. Every holiday season we all tend to reflect on the people in and circumstances of our lives for which we should be grateful. This year that hit really differently. Oh, every year I am grateful my my amazing friends and family, the ability to work and having all we need to live a safe and comfortable life. THIS year… this year we are truly living the life that we never knew we dreamed of. AND we realize how amazingly blessed we are by our framily and our circumstances. The people of this village take nothing for granted and I think that appreciation for even the smallest things has rubbed off. Not a bad thing.

One of the events we have most been looking forward to has been the opportunity to see the Northern Lights in person. We have scoured the night sky looking for those dancing green lights over and over to no avail. One night last week Marty’s Aurora tracker was like GO OUTSIDE… so we were standing at the window looking around. We could see a lot of hazy movement in the sky but nothing like we were expecting. We both put on our jackets and boots (yes, over PJs), grabbed our phones, and marched out into our snow covered drive. As we searched the sky all either of us saw was a series of hazy, cloud-like waves. It was not until one of us looked through the lens of the camera on our phone that we realized we were, in fact, looking at the Northern Lights. As soon as we looked through the camera the haze illuminated itself into the deep swirls of green that we were expecting. It was breathtaking, confusing, and a little disappointing that the only way to see the vibrant colors is through the camera. BUT we were looking at the Northern Lights! (I have since done some reading on this… duh… and what we experienced is normal… the human eye does not pick up the light spectrum the way the camera does.. we didn’t have a defective Aurora nor do we have night vision issues… ).

Last night we had a similar experience (standing outside in house shoes, a t-shirt, and a jacket… lol) although at one point we were able to see faint green swirls.. overall we didn’t have a spectacular show, but again we are just enchanted by the beauty of this place we now call home. Marty thinks maybe it has to do with how much light we were getting from the spectacular moon!

The past week has been super busy at school. We did another family game night, where we played some games and streamed our mixed 6 volleyball team at the regional tournament. The amazing elementary teachers have been working so hard planning Inupiaq Days at school, our elementary students spent Monday and Tuesday participating in a multitude of cultural activities that culminated with a fish flag parade for the community and a serving of caribou soup that they helped prepare. Seeing the community slowly start coming back into the school has been so significant for me from a professional standpoint. The two are so closely linked and interdependent and my predecessor had basically cut the community out of the school.

So nothing crazy to report this time. Just more amazing beauty, more daily gratitude for where we are and what we are doing, more love for the framily, and more and more finding of beauty in simplicity.

OH… and the SNOMACHINE for transportation! 🙂 This was from our first outings to the dump and grocery store! Yea, never thought those would be memorable trips but here we are… gratitude for the everyday adventures!