Catching my Breath

It’s difficult to write when it feels like the world is caving in all around. I’ve always been the type to clam up when things go wrong. This past year has been one of those. I hate to use my blog as a place to vent and am always careful about what I say about whom, so for the past year, I’ve tried to live by the old adage, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”

I can sum it up with a few lessons learned:

Life is short. Don’t wait for next year.

Not even family can be trusted.

Abuse is real.

Follow your dreams.

Never settle.

Depression is real.

Do what you love and love what you do.

Get a dog.

Grief is real.

Cry, laugh, and take deep breaths.

Don’t put off spending time with loved ones.

Spirits are real.

Go outside.

Learn something new.

Love is real.

To sum up life since my last post, I taught a fun group of 7^th graders in Dickinson, North Dakota, for a year, in an overcrowded, 80+ year old school overseen by a very misguided school board.

My family put the pheasant hunting farm for sale, which they had asked me to come run just one year prior. Alas, it was time to return to Alaska.

With much help from my sister, I finally settled my dad’s estate. Many tears. Lots of heartache. Still today.

I took a 5 week, 7,000 mile roadtrip with Denali this summer to visit many people across the states who mean a lot to me. Dad taught me not to put this off ever again. Denali and I put our toes in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Bering Seas all within three weeks!

I accepted the High School English teacher position in Unalakleet, Alaska, agreed to marry a man I had dated in North Dakota on and off for two years. He wanted to move to Alaska with me. We were “on and off” because he was abusive, but I thought I could make him happy and heal him. We all know how those stories end. After one month, he was escorted out of the village by the Alaska State Patrol (no Discovery Channel cameras around, thank goodness). To think I broke my 16 year single streak for that! Geez! Se la vie.

Enough of that. My writer’s voice has returned!