Our New Years

The last day of 2011 turned out to be wonderful for the Pepper/Journal union. I can only describe 2011 as a bi-polar year, with a mixture of significant highs and a few lows. The year ended on an amazing high!!!

After our regular morning routine, I went to the club around 11:30 AM to play squash with a number of the guys. Darrell had organized a pick-up match and 10 of us got together and played three way squash for about 3 hours. I like that format, since you get a chance to play everyone and get a little rest while playing the game between points.

Jacquie took a cab to the club around 1:30 PM and had a match of her own. She played for an hour or so and then we had some lunch and a celebratory beer. Jacquie had played Suzanne and Bonnie in her own 3-way match. Afterwards, Suzanne, her husband Scott, Jacquie and I were sitting around talking. Scott and Suzanne are very interesting people. Scott has been in Iqaluit for 30 years or so and Suzanne for nearly as long. They have been out on the land many times. Scott tells a story where they were almost caught in an avalanche. Scott described how they were able to miss the avanlanche and how fortunate they were in being able to keep their snowmobiles upright and "ride it out". Once they realized all was going to be okay, Scott went back and checked the snow (from the avalanche)and he told us it was just like touching concrete. He also went on to say that if they had of fallen off the skidoo's or the machines toppled, in his words, "that would have been it". Suzanne talked about another snowmobile incident where the machine toppled backwards. The person on the back was able to jump clear, however it almost landed on top of her. She is a very fit lady and explained that laying on her back, with her legs up, she was able to kick the running tracks on the machine which caused it to go over top of her and ultimately land behind her, without her getting hurt. It all happened so fast that she still can't explain how it happened, however needless to say the outcome could have been much different.

Jacquie and I invited Scott and Suzanne over for dinner. It was now about 4:00 PM and they were coming about 6:30PM. I'll let you in on a little secret. We had purchased some lobster tales, scallops and steak and we were going to have that for dinner and sometime during the dinner, I was going to propose to Jacquie. With Scott and Suzanne now coming over, I decided to alter the plan somewhat. So, in the midst of preparing this lovely New Years Eve dinner, I got down on one knee and proposed to Jacquie. I was very nervous because although we had talked in generalities of our desire to get married at some point, we had never discussed any details and this was the "tipping point". Jacquie had to make a decision!! I was ecstatic when she not only said "YES", however did it with enthusiasm!! She made me the happiest man in Iqaluit, maybe Canada!!

Between then and 6:30 when our friends were coming over, we called family and let them know of the news. Scott and Suzanne had many more stories for us, however to be honest, I was riding a wave of happiness and can't remember most of the stories they told.

We had a wonderful dinner. The lobster tales were cooked perfectly and the steak, scallops and ceasar salad were also execptionally good.

At 11:30 PM, we all jumped in the jeep and headed out to Dead Dog Lake which is located on the road to Nowhere and watched a wonderful fireworks display. It seemed to go on forever! It was at least 1/2 hour long and included 3 stations that were lighting off the fire works at the same time. There were also, some rogue fireworks that people were lighting off around the same area. All in all, New years was brought in with a "bang".

So, although 2011 had some difficult times, it ended on a very high note and Jacquie and Larry are destined to be married. The exact date has not been determined, however it looks like sometime between mid April and Mid May.

Thank you Jacquie for making me a very happy guy!! I love you!!