Easter

Easter brought so many nice things with it this year. The sun is by far the nicest, we went from being constantly dark in Iqaluit to being constantly bright, it makes me see life in shades of Easter pastels. The sun is on its way up when I wake up at four in the morning and it stays up until after I've gone to bed at night. It is quite refreshing, although it makes it very difficult to fall asleep. I have sworn off the tin foil tradition. I have always had this strange dislike for improper window treatments, bedsheets as curtains, wood in place of broken windows... tin foil. Unfortunately, in Nunavut tin foil is less of a treatment and more of a necessity. After a winter of wishing for sun light, I think that I would feel guilty blocking it out of my life.

I worked all weekend this Easter and never touched one chocolate egg. This was my first Easter without my siblings and our little chocolate packed baskets that my mom decorated with pink, yellow and blue ribbon when we were small. It didn't feel much like Easter, there was no church for me, just donut making. Steven, who is the manager of our four convenience stores in Iqaluit, picked half dead flowers off of one of the bouquets in the store and brought them to me. They made my day.

Even though I was stuck in the bakery, I felt a little bit of Easter love in the air. It was just before noon when one of my girls from store front came into the bakery asking me to call the RCMP to drag a drunk woman out. I walked out and Katie and I watched her. She was obviously disturbing people, but hadn't said anything terribly rude. It wasn't until she spat all over her pants and started to fall asleep that I decided to escort her out. Kicking people out of the store is generally something I would ask one of my male coworkers to do for me but on this day, this particular drunk looked too far gone to get in a good swing at me.

I woke her up and told her she had to go, that she should go home, change her clothes and sober up. She looked at me, trying impossibly hard to focus and said "I'm so sorry, aakuluk." I laughed. Not only did she not spit on me, hit me or call me a bevy of awful names, she told me she loved me and she told me repeatedly as she made her way, very slowly, to the exit. This encounter was the first of its kind and I decided it had something to do with it being Easter. In a strange way, it made my day better.

During the last week I also received gifts, one in the form of fan mail from a University student named Caleigh, who lives in Alberta and reads my blog. I was also sent a late birthday present from a woman who means the world to me. Andrea took the first six months of my blog and had them printed in a beautiful book, pictures and all. When I opened it my eyes teared up, it now sits on my coffee table for all of my friends to look at. Caleigh and Andrea, thank you both so much for your kind words and efforts, I am so appreciative.

My best buddy Robert just got back from a two week Euro trip and brought me a really beautiful glass key chain and a shirt from Athens Greece. Really the best gift is my friends simply returning to me in Iqaluit. The countdown is now on for Nick's return from vacationing in Nova Scotia.