• Family Legacy,  Temporary Life/Travel

    Why I Am Grateful to Fort McMurray

    Reflecting on the year 2012, I am most happy to have completed one full summer in Fort McMurray. This is the first chapter in, what I have chosen to call, “My Temporary Lifestyle.” With The Consultant bidding on and attaining contract work, we never know for sure where we’ll wind up or for how long. Summer 2012 was in Fort McMurray, the epitome of The Temporary Lifestyle. During our six months in town, I realized we were among the multitudes of others who are living it. I joined my husband in May, hesitant and resistant to the experience, but I had a plan. I would connect to the community and…

  • Temporary Life/Travel

    Like It or Not (What I Have Noticed About Fort McMurray)

    I am coming up to the two-month mark on my life in Fort McMurray. Sometimes, I think that being new in town, and knowing no one, offers that anonymity that allows one to observe. I am an outsider looking in and noticing some pretty interesting contrasts to my life back home in Calgary. As it turns out, Fort Mac is quite different from what I anticipated. Having been warned of the bugs, drugs, bad service and general roughness of the lifestyle here, I would like to share my view.           Most people I have met are not from here. This town is much more culturally diverse than I…