The title, sometimes vague, often alluding to something learned in time- in this case, says it all. This past week I notified the Yukon Flats School District I will not be accepting my contract and returning to Arctic Village next year. It is a decision filled with as much excitement as regret.
Over the past 6 months I have contemplated this decision nearly every moment of every day. Daily routines and daily debacles drove me back and forth. There were times I considered asking for more responsibility, and times I wanted to get as far away as possible. If you know me, you know I don’t take decisions of this nature lightly. You might also know that my outward stature gives no indication to what I’m thinking. Sorry. Thoughts prefer to remain thoughts, and not spoken words very often. In the end charts and graphs don’t help me, but feelings and gut instinct have the final 'say'.
The past two years I have experienced and learned things that will take decades to fully comprehend. Much like my encounters and episodes in the Army, Arctic Village has shaped me in a lot of ways. As days turn to months, then years, I feel these ideas will come forth in many ways. For now, I’m forever indebted to the Gwich’in Athabascan people for letting me live, work, and grow upon their land. My prayer and hope is that I gave them and their children back a fraction of what they gave me.
In six days I will board a Wright Air Cessna Grand Caravan with the remainder of my possessions and fly back to Fairbanks. The road begins again there, but the journey, is still to be determined. For the first time in my life I don’t have a job or a plan for what is next. I have ideas and passions I hope to spend more time with. I have benefits to call upon. I have a wife to love me. I have a dog to follow me. The rest are fish stories that can only be shared over a beer or whiskey. Cheers. ~Sam
Over the past 6 months I have contemplated this decision nearly every moment of every day. Daily routines and daily debacles drove me back and forth. There were times I considered asking for more responsibility, and times I wanted to get as far away as possible. If you know me, you know I don’t take decisions of this nature lightly. You might also know that my outward stature gives no indication to what I’m thinking. Sorry. Thoughts prefer to remain thoughts, and not spoken words very often. In the end charts and graphs don’t help me, but feelings and gut instinct have the final 'say'.
The past two years I have experienced and learned things that will take decades to fully comprehend. Much like my encounters and episodes in the Army, Arctic Village has shaped me in a lot of ways. As days turn to months, then years, I feel these ideas will come forth in many ways. For now, I’m forever indebted to the Gwich’in Athabascan people for letting me live, work, and grow upon their land. My prayer and hope is that I gave them and their children back a fraction of what they gave me.
In six days I will board a Wright Air Cessna Grand Caravan with the remainder of my possessions and fly back to Fairbanks. The road begins again there, but the journey, is still to be determined. For the first time in my life I don’t have a job or a plan for what is next. I have ideas and passions I hope to spend more time with. I have benefits to call upon. I have a wife to love me. I have a dog to follow me. The rest are fish stories that can only be shared over a beer or whiskey. Cheers. ~Sam
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