This particular brand of anticipation is different than I had expected when I first considered applying for a job with the Antarctic program. It’s a blend of excitement, ordinariness and relief—that I got a job at the South Pole, that I don’t have to spend another winter without my partner, that Daniel and I will be working at the same station. It seems so routine and normalized after his season that one would be going to Antarctica for a job that sometimes I forget about what an incredible, unique thing it really is.

This July, I got a call from the manager who interviewed and hired me as an alternate for the General Assistant position for last year’s season, asking me a few questions, making sure I was still interested, and letting me know that he would hold a place for me if my other interviews didn’t pan out. A few weeks later, I got a quiet offer letter by email, which I signed and faxed back. It seemed so anticlimactic after all the stress, excitement and anguish of the application process in early 2009—but easy enough that it feels a little bit like I didn’t work my ass off for it, which I did. And now that deployment is here, only days away, it feels like it isn’t happening, which it is. And I can’t wait.