On August 16, 2010, I arrived at McMurdo Station. Today as I left work, I looked up into the sky and saw the first nacreous clouds of the coming spring (if you can call it that here). These clouds signaled to me that I've completed the annual cycle and come back to where I started. They reminded me of my arrival last year, fresh from a warm Colorado summer, suddenly experiencing cold that I'd never felt before. This year, the cold doesn't seem so bad; the human body has an amazing ability to adapt. And, truthfully, I'm not exactly where I started. Aside from experiencing midnight sunshine and midday stars, I've discovered an openness and stillness (Antarctic winds notwithstanding!) that exists down here that I've not found anywhere else I've lived. I don't miss the technology that I had previously attached myself to—this is not to say that technology is bad; after all, I'm writing these words on a computer and posting them to the internet—nor do I miss the busyness I had imposed on my life. It is refreshing to have stepped away from it all for a time and found internal space which I usually don't see because I'm distracted by so much else.
Thank you all for sharing this blog with me! I'm happy that so many people have enjoyed reading about and seeing the photos of this amazing part of the Earth. I will be here until October 17 at which point, Larry and I and another friend named Brian will be going to Thailand for scuba diving and Australia (yay for getting to all seven continents!) for sight-seeing. Oooh, I can't wait!! Until then, I will continue posting, so stay tuned for more! :-D
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