First Air and Winter Air

My dress never arrived. Canada Post had given it an arrival date of November 18th, today is December 2nd and my parcel still hasn't landed in Iqaluit. My Fairy Godmother made her appearance however, in the form of two of my friends.

The day of the Ball, Katie rushed me out to see if we could "find something." We had heard that Baffin Flowers had a small selection of dresses. So small in fact that they had one dress that fit me, one beautiful purple and black, floor length gown, it was perfect. Katie had the dress wrapped up and all of a sudden I was outfitted for the night.

After work, Holly, the new girl across the hall, sat me down with a bottle of hair spray and did my hair and make up. Everything worked out perfectly, just the way it did for Cinderella.

My dear friend Nick and I joined his close friends Richard and Juliette and made our way to the gala, where we ate, drank and danced the night away. Unlike Cinderella's twelve o'clock curfew, we stayed out a little later and the magic was gone when my alarm went off at 5 am. I woke up with my hair standing straight up, make-up smudged down my face and a head ache that I couldn't shake all day. The pain was worth the night, it felt so good to dress up and have fun. I was so thankful that Nick took me as his date.



Nick and I before the First Air Ball

 The night of the Ball was the coldest I have felt so far this winter. The days are getting much shorter. It is just after 10 am as I write this blog post and the sun is just starting the peak through the clouds.

The winter is a hard time in the North. Last year was very hard for me and I had assumed this year would be easy. I am free of stress and have a lot to be excited about but still I feel the drag of the darkness. I feel the illnesses that take over our bodies so easily. I feel the dryness that sucks life from our skin, even with a humidifier running full force next to my bed. The winter brings with it a depression that eats at one person and slowly moves on to feed off of others. I've seen more tears and more sensitivity since the darkness arrived. I let the summer light take the pain of my break up off of my soul, but this winter I am reminded by the pain resonating between other couples. Relationships get harder in the dark and waking up on the wrong side of the bed becomes all the more common.

There are wonderful things about the winter that I try to focus on. Every sun rise and sun set is all the more gorgeous when you long to see the light and the colours of nature. I love to bundle up and walk in the cold, fresh, arctic air. It stings my cheeks and fills my lungs like a deep freezing gas that stops them from working temporarily. 

 I love to take walks with friends over the ice and snow. My favorite friend to walk with is baby Shemekia, not only because of how sweet she looks dressed up for the cold but because she brings an innocence and a peacefulness that accentuates the purity of nature. As we walk, Mekia falls asleep in her warm pocket behind me. I can feel the heat of her tiny body against my back and in the hood that we share I can hear her soft snores. I think of how rejuvenating the fresh air is and keep walking as the baby, warm and free, sleeps in the outdoors.

Sometimes the cold is nearly unbearable but I always wait to see the sunset if I can. Every time the sun starts to lower behind the mountains, its like witnessing a reoccurring miracle.

The soft, rose coloured light of the arctic sunset casts a glow on everything in the City, illuminating the dullest of objects and making our world more vibrant

Today, the sun will set at 1:59pm, and I take such pleasure in knowing that I will be here to enjoy it.