A few weeks ago, Richard finally got The Letter. This is The Letter we've been waiting for since August, the one from Alberta that would confirm that Richard's degree from the UK is legitimate and he can be certified. As we expected, The Letter also said he has a few more hoops to jump through.
I must say, governments seem to enjoy hoops, red tape, and other frustration-related objects. I bet they love tangled Christmas lights, the ones where one light is broken but you don't know which one until you've tried replacing them all, one by one.
One hoop is an online course. No problem, an expense but a hoop easily hopped through. Where we start to get tripped up is the courses at the U of A. Rich needs to spend four months in Edmonton doing taking classes and doing practical studies in a classroom. There is the cost of university, housing, food, daycare and the loss of an income (maybe two) not to mention some difficult choices ahead.
Now that we have fallen in love with the Yukon, do we give up our life here and move to Edmonton, or do we split up until Richard comes back in December? I won't get into the details of why each option is complicated and far from ideal, but trust me, we are in a pickle.
In our quest for the least bad plan the last few weeks, we've been discussing, making plans, scratching those plans, making new plans, and on and on. The average life span of any given plan is a little less than 24 hours. So far we are no closer to a decision than the day we got the letter.
I'm hoping our life is like the Upper Dewey Lake trail in Skagway. Every time we climb a steep hill and mentally congratulate ourselves, we turn a corner and see another climb ahead and grumble a bit. Maybe sometimes we feel like this climb will never end. But occasionally we stop and take photos or pick raspberries. We can feel ourselves slowly getting stronger with every step. Hopefully, one day, we will stand at the top, having climbed 1500 meters, looking out at a magnificent vista of rocky peaks and glaciers, and we'll know it was all worth it.