Spilling the Beans

As far as 'eventful' goes in the North, today was a wonderful, eventful day. I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We don't leave the blinds open when we're at work, so I long for sunny days off so that my withering plants might soak up some rays. Sadie and Jack also love the sunshine that beats in through the windows.

I had a scrambled egg breakfast and took a long hot shower. I have been meaning for a month to get my drivers license switched over from an Ontario license to a Nunavut license. I got dressed and put on some mascara to prep for the possibility of a drivers license mug shot and I left the house to walk aimlessly until I found the right building.

As I got up to the other end of town I saw my friend Kathy walking on the opposite side of the street. Her husband John recently had his licence switched so she joined my mission, thinking that she had some idea of the right direction. Long story short, we found the building, I surrendered my shiny new Ontario licence for a slip of paper that is currently serving as my temporary licence. I laughed because if I were to get pulled over in Ontario anytime soon, they would have to take a second and probably a third look at the slip as half of it is written in Inuktitut symbols.

Kathy and I had a wonderful afternoon. She took me to her new favorite little coffee shop and treated me to tea. We had banana bread that reminded me of my mommy's recipe and chai tea lattes. The sun had already started to go down when I left the house at three pm. By the time Kathy and I were at tea the sun had sunk to just above the mountains and was blindingly bright. Between the dust thrown up by passing vehicles and the sun, it was nearly impossible to see thirty feet in front of us. She shares my desire for snow that stays to hold the sand down.

We came home, popped in for a quick visit with Jen who lives directly above Matt and I and then we parted ways.

I ran over to the Iqaluit visitors center, they were closing at five and I wanted to get home before it got too dark and any colder. I grabbed some free reading materials and headed back to the warmth of our building. Excited to settle down with my Iqaluit pamphlets on hunting, wildlife, adventure tours and local parks.

I walked in the door to find a note on the table that said 'call Eldon.' For those of you who don't know, Eldon is one of our store managers, and one of the kindest men I have met here. Normally a message to call the store manager would have my nerves going crazy but not this time. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been sitting on a secret that has me impossibly excited.

About a week ago I was called up to Eldon's office for a quick meeting. He told me about the Inuit manager that they hired for the Tim Horton's that they started putting into North mart yesterday. Then he told me he thinks that I am the right person to work along side her to run the Tim Horton's. He asked me if I would fly to Ontario for training. Then he said it would be in Oakville. Excitement times three. I will be working to open the very first Tim Horton's in all of Nunavut, which happens to be the last place in Canada that the Tim's franchise has yet to touch.

I didn't want to say anything, because nothing is set in stone until airline tickets have been booked. I just got off the phone with Eldon and I will be flying out on Sunday. This coming Sunday. Halloween. Which means I will be home to go trick-or-treating with baby Gabriella for her first Halloween. Shes going as a lady bug. I couldn't be happier.

 I start training at Timmie's on Monday morning and at some point during my two weeks will have a date with the Oakville beaver to share my story with my home town.

I am already nervous about leaving my new home. I will miss Iqaluit almost as much as I will miss Matt, Jack and Sadie. Matthew isn't so excited about my leaving. I know he will be okay without me for a couple weeks and he'll be happy to have less dirty dishes around.

I am going to settle in on this chilly night with the readings I picked up from the visitors center.

I'll be seeing the beautiful faces of everyone I love in Oakville on Sunday. Hopefully I get the chance to celebrate a belated birthday with my dear friend Stephanie Maie. Who celebrated her twenty first birthday yesterday. I hope it was fantastic love.


Until then, all my love from Iqaluit.