More on the Story

Here we are, Friday the 13th, mama and the kids are gone to see the new Frozen movie and I am home alone. Tucked away in the back corner of our house, which is our master bedroom. Sitting in the dark with my laptop. I'm not really sure where all the urge to write and tell my story is coming from, it's not like I'm someone famous or even someone that random strangers would really care about. But, I found myself thinking all day about this and how I was going to word my next post.

I kept trying to think of a topic or niche that I could focus on but honestly, I can't really think of just one thing. I think this will end up being a Lifestyle blog and I will write about me and our daily adventures. Some may find that interesting, some may not and that's ok.

To continue with my beginning topic and how I got to where I am today, a 35 year old college student who drinks enough caffeine in the run of a day to kill a small child and smokes marijuana to fall asleep. Three kids, a rocky marriage and a desperate need for a haircut and a real job.

So, I started this new job and had the same situation, away all the time, stuck in a 8' x 10' camp room in the middle of nowhere when I wasn't working. Work was also in the middle of nowhere. For those who never had the lovely experience of traveling away for work, the only way I can describe it best is like going to prison. Not that I would physically know what prison is like, but what the portrayal of prison is like in my mind. You leave, you do what they want, when they want it, you have scheduled "visits" home and stuck in a facility in the middle of the woods. I guess we would have access to social media and we got paid more money, so it was not quite the same, but those are not everything either.

What planted the seed in my mind that that type of life is not what I wanted was when I read an article about the link between shift work in remote areas and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The article had studies that were conducted on how they see similar effects of shift workers and military personnel who go on tour overseas. Obviously the results wouldn't be the same due to the circumstances of each situations but it was interesting and started my thinking of how there has to be much more to life than spending it on the other side of a country and away from everyone and everything.

I loved coming home to my girls, I would miss them like crazy but I would end up screwing up their routines. My life would stop when I left and theirs would keep going. So when I came home and we all got used to being under the same roof I would turn around and have to leave again.

P and I got pregnant with our first boy, Mr. Dec while I was working my second winter for this company, chasing rigs and big money. I was lucky enough to be able to come home for his birth but it wasn't long and they were calling me saying to come back. He was only 11 hours old, we were sitting in the hospital room, still trying to catch our thoughts and sleep of just going through a 13 hour labour when the phone rang. Sure enough it was my old boss, saying how they had a quick job that needs to be done right away and they have no one else so I needed to get on a plane and back out. Of course I said no, but he was persistent, even asked to talk to P. She came on the phone and I could hear him saying how I needed to get back out because kids are expensive and we need to pay for diapers and all that. P wasn't too impressed but we finally came to a compromise, he needed to give me a few days to get mama and baby settled and I would go out for a week. The job was only supposed to take five days. So a few days went by, I hop on a plane and back to "prison" I go again, I should have known before I left that it wasn't going to be a week but I was being optimistic. I ended up staying a month! One week went by and then they had to have me for this other small project and so on. I wasn't happy, mama wasn't happy but in the drilling industry you take the work when it comes because you never know when there won't be any. Not long after Dec came along, we got married. The day started out crappy, I was stupid enough to go out the night before, felt like crap, my best man (buddy who I went to NYC with in 2007) is throwing up at 9 pm because neither one of us were smart enough to think that it wasn't a good idea. That is just part of the reason I don't drink now. Even though the day started out down pouring rain it turned out to be amazing. P looked like a goddess, the rain cleared up and we finished off the night with our close family and friends.

This type of working situation continued until the company was sold. We went from 300 ish employees to 4800 within a very short period of time and then everything changed. Work was slow, you might work for a month or two and then off for a month or two. You never really could tell so you took what was offered. I became a Drilling Supervisor in fall of 2013, something I thought I wanted as well. Then I quickly realised that these so called buddies that you worked with didn't give a rats ass about you and would throw you under the bus quicker than anything. I ended up bouncing around from company to company, chasing that "full time" employment but that just lead to nothing but broken promises and more and more anger inside.

My first trip to Africa was in 2015. A buddy was over in Ethiopia and a spot opened up for a driller. When I first mentioned it to P, she automatically said no, it's one thing to be away but on the other side of the world wasn't happening. Sometime went by and nothing else came up so I had to go. I needed to put food on our table and that wasn't going to happen sitting at home. So after 13 injections to keep me from dying while I was there, and a tablet a day to keep the mosquitos from killing me, I was off. All was going good and then my grandfather died. I managed to get through it but it was tough. Nine weeks in the south eastern hemisphere while everyone in the East Coast of Canada is having a very bad winter with crazy amounts of snow.

Not much really changed with the work situation and the ups and downs after that. The fluctuations of work and other factors that I will keep out of this because I am trying to focus on as much positive as I can, put a toll on our marriage and it too had its fair share of ups and downs.

Christmas 2015, P and I lost a baby. She took it a lot harder than me but I was definitely upset to say the least. We managed to get through Christmas that year but it wasn't easy. I ended up out in Saskatchewan in the New Year when my second opportunity to travel to Africa came along. This time, Tanzania. The money was triple what I was making and lots of promises of LOTS of work so I took it. I jumped on a plane, headed home to pack my bag and get ready for a new adventure. Those couple days of being home were special. P and I got pregnant with our little rainbow baby, JT. We talked a lot about having a third over the years because P always wanted three kids but we said if we did, it would have to be when the older two were in school. I never wanted any or to even get married but here we were, married, two beautiful babies and a third on the way but I'm stuck on the other side of the world. Working 14 hour days, seven days a week. Legs swelling and rash all over my body from the 40 degree temperatures every day. Then I got a bad flu type sicknesses. I ended up stuck in bed, luckily the rig we had there was broke down and we waiting for parts to get through customs. I spent a few days in and out of consciousness, barely eating or drinking, the boys checking up on me from time to time and making sure I am still alive. Meanwhile, P is home in Canada, has no idea what is going on or if I am even alive. This is not letting up anytime soon so we decide that it is a good idea to go see a doctor. My first IV, yeah, was in an African clinic half the size of my house with barely an english speaking person in the area. Not fun! They ran tests and I am told that I have typhoid and malaria and I need to travel back to this clinic daily for injections. Again, not fun!

I think I have said this in my other posts but I'm still kind of shocked to still be telling this story, guess I have a lot more to say than I thought. I'm going to put this story on pause and pick up where I left off later. Thanks again to all who are still here, it really does mean a lot.

Some pictures from this part of the story line...