Leaving ICE:

Leaving is monumental. So many practicalities and subtleties at play going into an 8 month journey. Where to go and how to get there are the relatively easy aspects. Dealing with the house, mail, bills, jobs, school and other practicalities have been more time consuming. But those are just logistical. The more subtle aspects are, in some ways, more significant. Many people ask about our future plans – sometimes subtly and other times bluntly people want to know if they're saying goodbye forever . A few times I heard “are you selling your house” as a euphemism for moving.

In a town where many come and go quickly it's a sensitive matter. People don't want to get their hearts hurt by fly-by-nighters nor do they want to miss out on great friendships . When we first came to town I remember people commonly asking how long we were staying. When I said three years (now 7 years ago) it lead to invitations that wouldn't necessarily have been made had I said we to leave in a year. One funny story; a family new to town was invited to dinner with neighbours. Upon hearing that the family was only planning to stay a year one of the hosts demanded of their spouse to know why they had been invited over. Some people guard their hearts carefully in this way. So I know that our trip has some wondering if we're gone for good.

So we have put our lives in Yellowknife on hold. We found great tenants to sublet our house. Alex is on a leave of absence. The kids are out of school. The pets are in foster care. And I resigned from my job.

Saying goodbye at work was sad. I feel like I've made some great connections with people and, if even only by virtue of proximity, they have been a major part of my life the past 27 months. That departure gave me many treasured moments as it closed a chapter in my personal life as well as, in some ways, that chapter of the organization's development. What a great experience that was.

And saying good bye to friends, really pulls at the heart. To say goodbye to the type of people who give a surprise airport pickup late at night that includes a bag of groceries for the morning. And people who've made gourmet homemade food (homemade paneer, homemade pasta, etc) and invite you over or drop it off for us to enjoy. And the friends who are patient even when you spend insignificant time with them. And people who will rescue one of my children from some sort of jam just as they would their own child. And the people who take your children out to see the wonders of Northern nature that their parents are too chicken to expose them to. And neighbours who drop off little gifts of tomato plants or chocolates “just because.” On and on the list could go. Never feels like it's possible to properly acknowledge these many kindnesses from the people who we live around but we do feel blessed. It makes me wonder if we're completely crazy to leave!