The Whole Wide World

As the winter season comes to a close and WinFly approaches, all the upcoming change has been heavy on my mind. Some of it, weighing more heavily than I realized, causing anxiety I didn’t know was there. That’s what change does to us as humans, it stirs up fear, and how easy it is to get swept away by that fear before realizing what is happening. It’s been said, where there is faith there is no room for fear. I find that to be true. When I believe that everything will work out, as it always does, the fear dissipates and I feel lighter and freer. The tricky part is catching myself in the fear.

After a great little evening at the alternative art show on Friday, I opted to stay in last night. There was, as there almost always is, a gathering at Gallagher’s last night, but I didn’t have a desire to go, so I didn’t. The festivities were for Rex, who has been coming down to the ice for over twenty years. It was a ‘graduation’ party, for his ice retirement. Judging by the amount of booze I had to restock this morning, libations were flowing.

I had my coffee shift in the morning, which was busy as usual. Then the store which was also busy. Still getting lots of souvenir shoppers and also because we were closed for three days for inventory earlier in the week, the store has been busy in general for the past couple days. On Saturdays each department has a weekly safety meeting. Working for GSC, I am in the same company as the galley staff and lodging/janitors.

Drew, the head chef, reached out to ask if we could hold the meeting in the store rather than the galley, which of course I said yes to. The purpose of the location change was to allow chef Tom to attend. He is the one who recently broke his foot and the trip to the store has less stairs that the trip to the galley. When 2 o’clock rolled around, everyone showed up, but Tom. He had scheduled a haircut in the neighboring salon for the same time. After everyone filed into the store and we realized Tom was at the salon, I suggested we all move over there, which we did. The salon is tiny and he was mid-haircut when we arrived, so it was a pretty comical meeting.

The first WinFly flight was supposed to be yesterday, but with the -60F to -90F wind chill that we have been in constantly for the past few days, the flight has been delayed. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but that’s been delayed as well as they need a full work day to get the air field prepped and since today is everyones day off, it wouldn’t be ready for tomorrow either. Tom and his broken foot are on the departing flight, and judging by his look of anguish and apparent irritation during the safety meeting, he is more than ready to be out of here. I find it curious that WinFly starts in August, the worst month of weather for the year, when the flights are almost always constantly delayed over and over again, but what do I know.