Boxing Up Your Life

Our goal for the month of June is to decide what to do with all of our possessions that we have accumulated over the past 25 years. The feeling has one of both happiness and sadness in that some small piece of paper might remind you of news that you would have rather not received or a note from a friend with whom you are no longer close. In many ways you relive your life as you pull long lost and forgotten tokens, trinkets and sundry items from tubs marked Baby Clothes/Hannah, or Art Work/Gunner. By the third child (Satchel) Karen had it down to a science (ever her way) to the point that if a comet were to strike, archeologists could easily study our family history. What would they take from these future discoveries rooted in our past? The one they call “Karen” loves precious moment figurines and managed to save her favorite papers from middle school through master’s degrees. Hannah had an affinity for horses and the color pink. According to the photo data it could be inferred that Hannah was celebrated amongst one set of grandparents above all others and was more than a little spoiled (if that is even possible). The tubs marked Satchel reflect a complex mix of a child who enjoyed everything from playing musical instruments to playing with action figures. He enjoyed reading and the occasional attempt at playing sports. Gunner’s tubs would reflect of an eclectic mix of coin collector, amateur novel writer, World War II historian, and music nerd. I am sure that my tubs would reflect the confused pack rat that I am now and have always been. In a scary way the tubs are whom we have been which makes me think what will our (you readers included) tubs look like in another 25 years? Will they keep the older tubs in mind when we reflect on the things that we should have tossed out long ago or will we hide them away always an unseen part of ourselves? Will we create new tubs that reflect how we changed for the better? Will new friends stay around long enough to be old friends? Will we be the type of people worth having a place in the tubs of others? Will we keep the junk out our tubs (lol my tubs were loaded with total garbage that have no real meaning to me) and only focus on that which is meaningful? 

A future with better tubs is what I really want to have. Tubs more like my teacher tubs that are full of pictures, gifts, cards and notes from 15 years of serving my wonderful families. Maybe we are all at our best when we are doing that for which we are created (if you believe in that sort of thing).

For now the tub junk has been shuttled away by our good friends at Deffenbaugh Trash Service. Karen combined the best of her items and mine as well and that is the way it should be as together I believe we are both at our most wonderful. We tried to hold on only to items that created a positive memory or energy. We asked the boys to do the same as well. All the tubs are now safe in storage ready for the time that they can be gathered up and given to the kids. One day Karen and I will have a house again and we will unpack all of that wonder bought by time with value gained through thought and decorate that place we make our home, from the doll that our daughter loved, the action figures that each boy would swear was his own, and the All-State Band Award that Karen won during her Senior year. Each “meaningless” object tied to a thought, feeling, date, or action that sparked other actions.

Lol… What was this blog post about? I forget.

What we understand about Barrow...

Though "all roads lead to Rome" none lead to Barrow unless you are an ice road trucker. We will be driving to our new home until we reach Anchorage. Once we arrive there we will fly to Barrow.

There are so many interesting facts about Barrow, Alaska. Barrow is the northernmost North American city. It has the largest oil field in the country. It boasts of having one of the largest Eskimo populations in the world and has the coldest climate in Alaska. Barrow is 1300 miles south of the North Pole and approximately 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Its land type is tundra which is on permafrost 1300 feet deep. The climate is considered polar: winters can be dangerous with the combination of extreme cold and wind. Our new school district, North Slope Borough School District, sent a wind chill temperature chart to inform us of how quickly flesh may freeze with certain wind speeds and temperatures. Extreme wind chill and white out conditions from blowing snow are common. Approximately 324 days per year there are freezing temperatures with snowfall occurring during any month of the year. The first snow typically falls the first week in October with snow on the ground from then until sometimes late June. The sun sets mid-November for about 65 days creating a polar night and rises again in late January. (Little known is the three hours of twilight during the polar nights.) Ice fog and overcast skies are common during winter months. Bitter cold sets in during January and February with average temperatures of -16 degrees Fahrenheit. By March the sun is up about nine hours. In mid-May the midnight sun appears and remains above the horizon for around 82 days. July's average high temperature is 46 degrees Fahrenheit making it the warmest month of the year. Barrow is surround on three sides by the Arctic Ocean with flat tundra stretching 200 miles to the south. Therefore there are few barriers to reduce wind. Our home in Barrow appears to be within about about a mile of the Chukchi Sea. 

A nearby archaeological site suggests that Eskimo culture may have existed there since 500 AD. Barrow has about 4500 residents most of whom work in the Northern Slope Borough School District, with the Northern Slope Borough, in the private sector, or with oil companies. Leisure activities include swimming, playing racquetball and hockey, ice-skating, roller-skating, lifting weights, wall climbing, and participating in school events. Due to high prices, fresh produce is brought in weekly via plane. Many decide to purchase groceries from Southern Alaska or the lower 48 and have them flown to Barrow. Vehicles and other large items are brought up via barge once per year, boarded in April and delivered in August.

Special events include Piuraagiaqta (The Spring Festival) held in mid-April, Nalukataq (The Blanket Toss Celebration)- held on several days beginning the third week of June to celebrate successful spring whale hunts, Independence Day- celebrated like the lower 48 on July 4th with Eskimo games including the two-foot high kick and ear pull, Whaling- held the second week of October, Qitik Eskimo Games known as Christmas games- held December 26th- January 1st, and New Teacher In-Service and Welcome celebrated in August of each year.

Each spring evidence of Barrow's unique wildlife is abundant: bowhead and beluga whales, ringed and bearded seals, walrus, polar bears, caribou, foxes, and hundreds of bird species including the snowy owl. Barrow is known as "Ukpeagvik," which means 'the place of the snowy owl.' We received a checklist from our new school district of 185 species of birds that we will encounter in Barrow including various types of loons, grebes, albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels, cormorants, ducks, geese, swans, osprey, hawks, eagles, kites, falcons, caracaras, grouse, ptarmigan, prairie-chickens, cranes, plovers, lapwings, sandpipers, jaegers, skuas, gulls, terns, auks, murres, puffins, owls, nightjars, tyrant flycatchers, larks, swallows, swallows, wagtails and pipits, kinglets, wrens, mockingbirds and thrashers, accentors, thrushes, old world warblers and flycatchers, chickadees, shrikes, crows and jays, starlings, wood warblers, tanagers and allies, sparrows, towhees, juncos, blackbirds, orioles, grackles, finches, siskins, and crossbills. We hope to locate each species and take photographs to share.

We will share more as we learn and experience! Quyanaqpak or Thank you! Please visit us again!

Why Barrow?

This month we officially turned in our resignations to the school district for which we have served for many years. Our lives beyond family have been our districts. Our districts have been special and totally irreplaceable because of the students. Our solace in leaving has come in the form letters, emails, and sentiments from students and parents. I hope they realize they are such precious gems and bars of gold. Thank you to everyone for the gifts of love and sentiment.

Barrow? Barrow, Alaska? Why now? My wife Karen and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this June 6th. We met right out of college and knew that we had found our soul mates. Our dream was to travel and experience the world as much as possible. As many of you will attest kids, work, bills, and more schooling will suck you up like a Kansas Twister only to spit you out between 20 and 30 years later with much less hair, much more weight, and the feeling that the last two and one half decades were nothing more that a busy autumn weekend. As Karen and I have both allowed the last few years to run under our feet we began to discuss what we wanted and needed to have a fulfilling future. Our discussions would usually drift back to our desire to explore and serve. Last year (and this year as well) we had many job offers from places like Daytona Beach, a small town in Maryland, a city in New Jersey, and even New York City. These are all wonderful places; however the learning and growing component for us was simply not there. Karen had it in her mind to explore Alaska for a job. I thought she was joking at first; however so much about such a move seemed exactly what we were seeking. What really brought this into focus for us was the need of the children in Barrow, Alaska. Our districts were amazing because of the people whom we served. As teachers, our commitment is to the children that we encounter in any situation and any place. Our new place will now be Barrow, Alaska. It is heartbreaking to leave you all behind; however we have much more growing and learning to do. We invite you to come with us as we begin our next journey.