I am currently enjoying lounging in a very comfy bed at the Holiday Inn Express, I thought I would take this time to reflect back on some of the reasons we have decided to go north, before we are frozen and wondering why the hell we did this!!! lol! This way I can look back and remember.
So… our decision came not too long ago at the end of July, it was probably our last choice but became our very first choice very quickly. At that time we were actually extremely close to going to the U.S. Air Force recruiters and Ryan signing papers to join the military. We had planned on going on Ryan’s day off the following week. We have known that we were going to be making a big decision in our lives for awhile now, for about 6-8 months we have been talking about what that choice would be. We didn’t know what we would end up doing, but we examined each choice carefully. Our first choice was Ryan joining the Canadian Army as a vehicle technician, we thought this through very carefully and looked at the pros and cons, we liked the option of the Canadian forces because the salary is about double that of the American forces. The only problem with this choice was that we had to wait until Ryan became a Canadian citizen (currently he is a permanent resident) at first we thought that would not be too bad because Ryan is able to apply this month for his citizenship, but then we found out it could take 12 months to get his citizenship. We decided that would not work (for money reasons) and began looking into the American military once again, despite the lower income. We looked at the different branches and finally decided on the Air Force, we were really happy with this decision and thought it would give our little family some great opportunities, we knew it would be unbearably hard at times but decided that the pros out weighed the cons in the long run. We started preparing for this huge life change, expecting that Ryan would start boot camp in October.
One day I all of a sudden remembered that our friend’s Kirstin and Jamie had offered for us to come live with them in Iqaluit several years ago. At that time we had declined, although we had seriously considered it, because I was in school and we did not feel we were in a good place in our lives, one of the main reasons being a new puppy we had just adopted.
So I thought about it, figuring it was a real shot in the dark. Especially since we had DECIDED for sure that Ryan would be joining the Air Force, and we were both, especially Ryan stoked about that. But when I saw Ryan I mentioned it, my thought process was that we would go for the year while Ryan obtained citizenship and then return for him to join the Canadian forces. Ryan immediately thought it was a good idea and we decided that paying off a lot of debt before joining either forces was probably the best choice. But we of coarse still needed to talk to Kirstin and Jamie, who were conveniently arriving a few days later. We anxiously waited to see them to talk to them about this idea we had. As soon as we mentioned it to them they said yes, that they would be happy for us to come! It was extremely hot that day so we decided to head over to DQ for some ice cream and air conditioning and on the way Ryan and I decided that yes this was the best decision for us and that we needed to just go for it, and figure it out as we went. So within a matter of an hour, maybe, lol, we completely changed our future! To a lot of people this is absolutely crazy and doesn’t make sense, so I just want to explain a little about Iqaluit, as we see it.
Iqaluit is not a vacation destination, it is not somewhere that people generally would really want to go in terms of nice weather or beauty. At least in the typical way, there are still very pretty areas that we have seen pictures of. Its not a big party destination or anything either, in fact it is a “dry city” (ie. no Liquor store or Beer store). You can have a drink in a restaurant or bar though. But what Iqaluit does have is opportunity. Opportunity to work, quickly, and making good wages, extremely good in some cases. As well as opportunity to succeed, grow, and advance in your career. We literally know people who have went there without a job and had a job before leaving the airport!
It is also an experience that not many people can say they have had, which is pretty cool in its own. We feel it is going to give us the opportunity to really step out on our own as a family without being held in by a contract like the military. We figured if we can’t do this then there is no way in hell we will get through 3 years of the military. Yes it is going to be extremely hard to be away from our family!!! But at least we will be together, and we will have unlimited contact with our family via video calls, FB and telephone.
We feel we will be able to create stability for Kaitlyn in a way that we may not be able to down south. We are hoping that after just a year or two up north we will be able to not only pay off our debt but also save for a down payment on a house here. Something that would be easily 5 yrs + if we were to stay where we are.
Another thing is the chance to see a different way of life, and experience a different culture. We are actually excited for the lack of stores and people, from what we hear the people that are up there are very nice people, it takes a certain type of person to stay there and we believe that we will fit in well. We are not the type of people who like to go out and party or anything, but staying in and playing poker or something sounds great to us!
Last that I will talk about is the fact that you only live once! This is the last chance we will get to do this with Kaitlyn at an age where she won’t be in school, etc. so we figure Why not? I would rather make mistakes and experience life then stay in the same place for my whole life! We can always come back! Anyways, I have to get going to bed soon, so that is all for now!
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