AMARANTH

We were SO excited about going to Amaranth. We couldn't wait to get there. Our first meeting we met with the boss & wife and some of the other families. We also met with the guy that DH would be working with and some of the people from the reserve. We were so excited.

We drove there in a wicked snow storm. We probably should have spent another night in Wayway but there was NO way DH would. We arrived and right away the other guys were helping us unload and making sure we were comfortable. A good sign I thought. We spent the night sitting on the floor watching our little TV. We didn't know it then but DS would arrive in 3 short weeks.

We met one of the local families before he was born. We still keep in contact with them. They were my saving grace while we were there. Their girls would babysit our son when we needed them too and we would just hang out. In fact, there are a few local families we are still in contact with. While it wasn't a real desirable place to be, we had a strong support group and those people will always remain close.

There are two families in particular that will always be close our hearts. With one family, we had children roughly the same age. We had a lot of common interests and we were always there for one another, no matter what. We could be completely honest with eachother and I trust both of them with my deepest, darkest secrets. And we don't trust many people. The other family has been our only support through DH's health issue. We've become very close and we are thankful that we met them, while in Amaranth.

It was CRAZY busy there. I felt like a single Mom most of the time. DH did his very best to spend his days off doing stuff with us even though I know he just wanted to sleep. When DH was working and the weather was nice we would head home to Winnipeg with family. It wasn't always an easy place to be but it wasn't really all that bad. It certainly all depended on your ability to adapt and your attitude. I always told myself that there were way worse places we could be.

We had lots of fun there. Snowmobiling, ice fishing, quadding, mud bogs, snowmobile racing, catching carp, fires in the backyard, playing on the giant snowhills in the yard, looking for birds, skeet shooting, combining, all kinds of stuff. We could always find something to do being outdoorsy people.

I'll never forget the fires! People would set fires for no reason. It was dry and well, its one way to cause trouble. One night they set one behind our house! I was scared.

There were some not so good times there too. But we don't dwell on those things. There were a couple times I questioned whether or not I was cut out for this lifestyle.

DH did something in his career that he talked about doing from the time he was in training. So proud.

It was also the place were things started to get bad for DH. Looking back I realize I missed a lot of signs. I can't change that now and I'm just happy that after all this time we are actually on way back to getting back at it. We are looking forward to a change and getting closer to our family again.

This is a journey and one day I'll write about it. I don't have all bad things to say about these places. Now that I'm past them and I've reflected I don't really think of the negative stuff. There is negativity in everything you do. I think of the things that made me grow, how they changed my family and how I learned from these experiences. I realize how I made myself function with undesirable places and people. I know that I did more than what was required of me to make it livable.

I'll always remember that this is where I took both my babies "home" for the first time, the people I met, and where I had some real neat experiences and met some great people.