Warm Winds

Was a shock to get up this morning and 'smell' the warm breeze. For those of you who don't know what its like to live in the extreme cold let me explain. There are many changes, many adjustments the body has to make but the one that comes to mind today is smell... this becomes much more acute in our environment.

Take North Pole for example... our worst temps are 60 below zero, our worst highs in the 90's. When the body and mind experiences weather changes like that in one years time, season after season you start to feel differently.

So walking out this morning smelling the moisture in the air and hearing a weird sound of rustling when its normally still, quiet and cold... well, it was not right. I listened intently for a few moments hoping desperately that the sound I was hearing was not water dripping off the roof. Thankfully it was only the gentle breeze blowing the trees but I was scared there for a moment that our snow would be leaving us at the time of year when we should be buckling down for temps at LEAST down to zero.

With so little snow pack on the ground we can not afford to loose any of it. There are predictions of more snow coming but Ive heard that for weeks and I'm starting to not believe any of it.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I'm very happy to say that I wont be cooking and I wont be going out any place to fatten up on food. Its not because I don't have a family or friends to be with, its that every year Ive been thinking more and more of how I wish we didn't have holidays at all. I'm not a ho-humbug type person I just think we shouldn't need the excuse of the holidays...

Why do we need a reason to see our family, to cook a wonderful meal, to give presents and love only on special days of the year? Why cant we live every day like a holiday, every day as if we were on vacation... maybe Alaska has spoiled me and marriage to my husband as well.

This part of my life has seen so much joy and blessing that I cant understand how the world needs an excuse to celebrate holidays as one of the few times to really cut loose and enjoy life.

In my lowest moments Ive learned to find the blessings, to see the light... even through the sorrow of a life lost Ive come to realize that that loss is only a clear expression of how great that life really was.

Ive felt a lot of loss these past few years. The kennel website doesn't reflect those who have passed... my mind is still having trouble going there and expressing the full realization of how much my life, and the kennel, has changed. But even in that loss I find the beauty... for if not for those losses we would not have had a reason to welcome new pups into this world, into our home and completely into our hearts.

And so it is with this that I leave you tonight... A reason for thanks, not just because of tomorrows holiday, but because I am thankful each and every day... every moment bringing a new blessing in so many ways. Love your life, and those in it, enjoy your holiday and remember that the day after tomorrow will be another holiday... as is every day here after...

Tomorrow I am going out as I always do with my family, my team, my children... and this time my husband will be along as well on his snow machine following the team and I down the trail. This is my life, an eternal holiday of sorts and I am so eternally grateful for all the souls that make my world what it is...




Calypso enjoying her day in the office today...