This winter is going to be monumentally different from all of my past winters in Skagway for a lot of reasons. So much so that I'm pondering if I even want to be here for it. Sometimes the timing of things falling into place is ironic at best. Some of the things I've been craving the entire time I've been in Skagway are finally here, and now that they are, the reasons I've wanted them are no longer motivations.
The biggest reason that this winter - which begins after the last cruise ship day, September 25th - will be drasitcally different from the last four is that this winter I will have full time work. In case you don't live in Skagway, here's the deal. There are a million jobs to be had in summer, which is why our population triples from May through September when the ships are coming in. A lot of us have 4 or 5 jobs in the summer time because there's so much money to be made. Why do we need to make so much money? Because we need it to last the winter.
99% of those summer jobs go away once the ships leave. Tour operations, jewelry stores, gift stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, campgrounds shut down. Unless you're working for the school, the city, the power company, the post office, or a construction company, there's a pretty good chance you won't have full time work come winter. We survive by making what we can in the summer and doing little side jobs in the winter.
Last winter I had it down to a science. I worked enough little part time jobs that, on about 800 dollars a month, I could pay all my bills. The last few winters i've been a kitchen assistant at our senior lunch program. Last year I added a few jobs - childcare at the church on Sundays, cleaning a house once a week, and caring for a special needs child. All of those combined to allow me to just barely scrape by.
Now that I've got full-time year round work with the police department it's kind of strange to think about what this winter will be like. It is odd to consider that in the middle of winter I will be able to pay my bills, AND buy groceries, AND be able to go out for a beer from time to time without literally rolling nickels and dimes to pay my tab. It's weird to think about the fact that if i see a pair of jeans I like at our one clothing store in the winter time that I can buy them without affecting my rent. I'll even be able to take a weekend trip here and there to Juneau, Haines, Whitehorse, or Atlin if i feel like it.
But another way that this winter will be different is the same way that this summer has been different. I've just come out of a three-year relationship, and some of my goals have changed as a result. I also will no longer have that partner to connect with every day. My schedule is 4 PM to midnight, with Mondays and Tuesdays off, so I really haven't been able to be social as often as I'd like to. I am an introvert but I'm used to having jobs where I talk to people all day. Now I don't. And now when I get off work, people are either sleeping or hammered, neither of which allow for very stimulating conversation.
But at least I'll still have the seniors. Three days a week I'll still be helping out in the kitchen and serving lunch to the ten or twelve seniors I've come to love, so I'm looking forward to being able to connect with people that way.
I have a new house and a new roommate. I have a new van. I have a new job. I have health care benefits too. So now if i slip on the ice -- scratch that, WHEN i slip on the ice -- and hurt myself, I can actually see a real doctor if I need to. When I go hiking and camping if anything happens I'll be covered. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but it's nice to know that I don't have to be constantly worried.
I've always loved Skagway more in the winter time than in the summer. This year I'm just a little apprehensive about what my winter will be like. Change is a good thing. And a lot of things will still be the same.
I think over the next few weeks before winter actually starts I'll give a little history on what my winters in Skagway have been like to set the tone for those of you who've never been here. Enjoy...
