As it turns out, this past year really put these ideas to the test. So here is me, looking back for once:
The year started with a rather dramatic turn of events, as the oil price plunged and so did or Norwegian currency. We were just in the final stages of purchasing a summer house in Denmark, but the drastically altered exchange rate forced us to reconsider and finally drop the deal, and wait for better times. That was a pretty bitter pill, but certainly the right - though hard - choice to make.
Also in January, my employer, the Norwegian Polar Institute, had launched a massive sea ice research expedition (N-ICE 2015), during which our ship, the "Lance", was spending up to 6 months in the ice north of Svalbard, in order to collect invaluable time-series data on sea ice formation, buildup, and decay. I had been heavily involved from the planning stages of this project, and had also participated in a test expedition in February the previous year, contributing as safety officer and research diver.
However, our family situation, with our youngest still not even in day care, simply did not allow for long absences for either of us parents. So a few months before it got underway, I had had to announce that I would have to completely leave the N-ICE project, and hand over my duties to others.
But for the next 6 months, I saw many of my colleagues come and go through our Longyearbyen office to or from the ship. I kept up with their progress, following updates through chatting with them, but then I always had to turn away and work on some unrelated tasks instead. I was probably as happy as everybody else when the expedition finally ended, although for slightly different reasons.
During April, my institute's leadership suddenly initiated a serious downsizing initiative, and out of the blue, I got called in for a meeting, where I was told that I would be offered some sort of severance package if I "voluntarily resigned" from my permanent position at a government agency. Needless to say, that package was not a very good deal for me or our family, so I had to turn it down.
By the time our new annual budget was announced, it turned out that there really was no urgent need for any serious downsizing, as our allocations were basically maintained at a stable level. But my confidence in the security of my job, and in the leadership of our institute, had been badly shaken up.
During Summer and Autumn, things finally started to look a little brighter, and both my participation in the Norwegian Polar Bear Population Survey in August, our youngest starting in kindergarten later that same month, and a very rewarding study leave period in September, spent at the Institute of Marine Research, were some great highlights, and important turning points in my life.
After a new round of house-hunting in Denmark, we returned back home to Longyearbyen in time for our last christmas preparations. We were excited about the prospect of a new house in our sights, and looked forward to a quiet and relaxed holiday period. The Friday before christmas, forecasts had predicted a massive storm hitting our town, so we secured our house as best we could.
The storm finally subsided on Saturday morning, after dumping a lot of snow all around town. I later realised that I had been completely absorbed in digging out our own front door, while a massive avalanche hit a neighbourhood just a few hundred meters away. It was later announced that the avalanche had claimed the lives of two people, an adult and a small child, and injured several others who had to be evacuated for medical treatment on the mainland.
We knew both the deceased, as well as their families, and we are all deeply troubled by this disaster. These were our immediate neighbours, caught in their homes on a Saturday morning. We also know several of the survivors who got pulled out of the snow, with their young kids and babies. The part of the neighbourhood hit by the avalanche looks like a nightmare, and one cannot move through town without seeing it all the time. It is going to take a long time to process this for all of us, also for our family.
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