I SEE YOU
In early mornings with your coffee, going up to the Bridge, smiling ear-to-ear for a new day out on the sea ice
Looking out in the distance, carefully watching, and protecting us from polar bears and the Arctic’s unforgiving conditions Taking gloves off in cold weather to fix an instrument, rolling up your sleeves, and getting wet and cold for the sake of data
Using all your senses to understand the world around you. Tasting sea ice to determine if it came from snowmelt or the sea
Taking in the splendor of this place you have dedicated your life’s work. Being fully present in its beauty, fierceness, and fragility Creative solutions in hand, retrieving instruments that blow away or drift off with the ice. Always a Plan B
Pulling pulkas across uneven terrain, stacked with gear, delivering instruments to your research site
Counting on your fingers to determine how much sleep you might have after a long night of experiments and day work just hours away Pausing in your work to appreciate the small things. Peering over the ice edge to see the water below, listening to the sounds of crackling sea ice Bringing chocolates or bread rolls out onto the ice for the person who skipped lunch today so they can stay out and continue the work Making birthday cards, little notes, and sometimes cake to make someone’s birthday special when we’re far from home Exhausted. Broken. Digging deep within yourself to continue the work you must do, what it takes to get a number Your resilience and passion that has brought you here. Hours and hours of studying, of research, of imagining the radical possibilities
Heartfelt hugs goodbye and tears in our eyes, gratitude for what we’ve accomplished together and the memories of a lifetime
A glint in your eye – pride and joy. The work is not over. Ready to explore data and understand a place so brilliant and complex
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MOTHER VOLUME ONE
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