A welcomed relief come February and March is the return of a decent amount of daylight. In December, Western Alaska deals with less than four hours of daylight which can start to take a depressing toll on a person. Now; however, in March we are quickly gaining daylight, more than 6 minutes each day, and the sun is rising and setting at doable times. Shades over windows are the trick to dealing with too much light in the summer and activities to distract you from the dark are the key to getting through the winter. Right now though, the amount of daylight we have is just right, which bodes well for us as our most exhilarating time as KNOM-ers is upon us…Iditarod.
Hands down, the best part of being a KNOM volunteer is some of the people you get to meet along the way. Nome is a unique community positioned on the edge of the world and isolated from most mainstream stuff, so the people you come into contact with are people you would have never met otherwise. Living and working with the same people day in and day out, on top of being in such an intense environment is enough to create some pretty great friendships. My hope is that the KNOM bond will live on long past my departure from Nome. In November, when I was able to take some vacation time and visit the Lower-48, current roommate Matthew Smith and I were able to see our former roommate and Music Director from last year, Leah, who left in July.
Whether it’s the quick shifting daylight hours or the transient people around the Nome area, I’m constantly reminded of how quickly time moves. It’s best to accept each moment for just what it is.
