Military Monday: Vacations

A week and a half of bliss.



Rose bushes by our PEI cottage

For twelve days my family have enjoyed one another's company while driving almost 4000km (close to 2500 miles), visiting three provincial capitals, touring historical buildings, national treasures, and one absolutely beautiful beach. We've eaten a plethora of just-off-the-boat shellfish (OH, the LOBSTER!), fresh croissants, rabbit pie and even a home cooked and very delicious gluten-free birthday cake. We've body-surfed and had (slightly rude) late-night Scrabble games. We've biked, toasted marshmallows, read more than twenty-five books collectively, and watched shooting stars from a red-sand beach.

Pure heaven.

I've been quiet in social media circles for a week or so, but if you caught my tweet/facebook post a few weeks ago, you will know that this is the first true and un-blemished vacation our military family has had in years.

What do I mean by un-blemished? I mean a vacation that is neither tacked on to, nor involves any of the following:

*a house-hunting trip
*a move from post to post
*a family emergency
*the beginning/middle/end of a deployment
*a major holiday (ie Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving...or any other religious holiday which generally involves semi-mandatory family get-togethers)
*a work/military conference or trip

If you are a service family of any sort, or have had to move away from family as a result of your/your spouse's job (RCMP families? Oil-rig workers?), you will understand what I'm getting at. Sometimes a vacation can be just being together in your own house for a week, with no demands on your time other than what game you're going to play or what park you are going to walk to.

It's hard to be away from your parents, grandparents and siblings. And vacation time with them is precious. Incredibly precious. So every vacation has to be planned and plotted and judiciously organized to maximize this family time. It's even more complicated if your respective parents live in two separate parts of the country...as is the case in our family (almost 1400km apart). Just going 'home for the holidays' is a delicate balancing act, not to mention an expensive and potentially stress-filled prospect. Even worse when your posting has plunked you in a completely different part of the country or the world.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not complaining. Sometimes the military lifestyle works to our advantage, and little bonuses come our way. Like this past January, when I got to tag along on my hubby's New York City visit (I blogged about it here...). Or when the kids and I flew over to Italy to meet up with my hubby during his two-week mid-deployment break (see A Vacation in the Clouds here).  I have one friend who has just completed a cross-continent family adventure as part of their move from Florida to Alaska (loved reading her Facebook updates!). Another went to Hawaii with her hubby when he was tasked there for a month. Military families are great opportunity maximizers, and can turn a stressful situation (a 10 day drive to a new post) into a once in a lifetime trip (a family adventure to see the coast of Maine and the Rocky Mountains all in one tour).



Thunder Cove Beach, PEI

But these military 'facilitated' vacations are few and far between and sometimes bitter-sweet. I have to say, one of the hardest good-byes I've ever experienced was our Venice adieu, watching Daddy as he left on his plane to head back to the Middle East while we waited for ours to take us back to a very quiet and Daddy-less home. The magic of our two-week vacation ended with the close of a door.

When we were plotting our precious yearly vacation time waaaaaaaay back in the winter, we decided on Prince Edward Island for many reasons, but the military had no part of this decision. We went there because we wanted to  and not because we had to. A rare occurrence in our family existence.

And the extended family visits on the way? Well, they were just a bonus.

Brenda



Got a family vacation story you'd like to share? A move that turned into an unexpected adventure? Drop me a line in the comments below!

Up In The Air! A Canada Day Blog Tour Post

Happy Canada Day! For Canada Day this year, I'm taking a slightly different approach, and am hosting Ann Marie Meyers on her Blog Tour for UP IN THE AIR, her soon to be released middle grade novel. Ann Marie is a Jolly Fish Press publisher-mate of mine, and she lives in Toronto. I had the opportunity to meet her while in Toronto this week!

The interview...

BCD:  Hi Ann Marie and Happy Canada Day! And congrats on your upcoming release of Up in the Air!

AMM: Thanks Brenda. It’s wonderful to chat with you today. Oh, and Happy Canada Day to you as well.

 

BCD: So because it’s Canada Day, and I know you hail from Trinidad, I thought maybe you could tell us a bit of your journey that brought you to Canada. What brought you north?

AMM: My husband, no less. And a bit of synchronicity. We had just moved back to Manhattan after spending several years in California (long story there). After all that time, the city felt strange to us. Manhattan was busier, noisier, so much more intense. I think our absence for so long had softened us, though I have to admit that my daughter, who was three years old at the time, took to the city like a shark in water. J My husband, to my utter shock and horror, wanted to leave for somewhere ‘calmer’. Coincidentally, around that time, he decided to fulfill one of his dreams of riding (on his motorcycle) to Toronto; which he fell in love with instantly. And so after lots of discussion, preparation, formalities etc. etc., we ended up moving here.

BCD: Wow, quite a journey! Were there any Canadian influences in the writing of Up In the Air?

 

AMM:  Not at all. I started writing Up In The Air while I was still in the States. The idea came to me while I was meditating one day, and it resonated with me so strongly that I knew I had to write it.  

BCD: I know one of the questions I had as a new author was: how will being Canadian affect my journey to publication? So I’d like to talk about that with another fellow author on the northern side of the border. Do you have an agent in Canada? How did you meet him/her?



Ann Marie and I in Toronto, with
an Up in the Air ARC!

AMM:  Actually, I signed directly with Jolly Fish Press. I had taken a year off from writing to clear my mind and recover from so many rejections. However, in April of 2012 I got this overriding drive to tackle Up In The Air again. In June, I submitted the manuscript to Jolly Fish Press and they signed me up shortly afterwards.

 

BCD: Wow, that's great! I know that Jolly Fish Press is located in the US, what are some pros and cons of living in one country and publishing in another?

 

AMM:  One big pro is that my book will have an immediate and greater presence in the US. I will also have a wider audience where the books can sell and I can even do readings in the US. The flip side is that it takes longer for books to be shipped to bookstores here in Canada, not to mention the added taxes and duties involved.

 

BCD: Good points. On a slightly different tack, what is your favourite place in Canada you’ve been to so far? And why?

 

AMM:  Montreal! Old Montreal, in particular, reminds me a bit of Manhattan, NYC. There is a vibrancy to it, a life all its own that resonated very strongly with me when I visited with my family. Montreal has a certain character that leaps out at you, and which I fell in love with immediately.

 

BCD: Is there anywhere in Canada you haven’t been to yet that you’d like to go?

 

AMM: Many places. PEI, Vancouver, Victoria. One of my dreams is to rent a RV and travel within Canada for at least a couple of months.

 

BCD: All great places! I loooooove PEI. And Vancouver, and Victoria... So many places, so little time. Thank you so much for stopping by on your very busy month, Ann Marie! Best of luck with your book!

 

AMM: Thanks Brenda!

 

A little bit about UP IN THE AIR... (taken from Goodreads)

Ever since she can remember, ten-year-old Melody has always wanted to fly.


And when she leaps off a swing in the park one day and lands in the mystical realm of Chimeroan, her dream finally comes true. She is given a pair of wings. She can fly! Life cannot be any better.


Yet, dreams do come with a price. Even with wings, Melody realizes she cannot outfly the memories of her past. The car accident that has left her father paralyzed, and her unscarred, still plagues her with guilt—she believes that it was entirely her fault.


In Chimeroan, Melody is forced to come to terms with her part in her father's accident. She must choose between the two things that have become the world to her: keeping her wings or healing her father.

 

Looking to purchase this fabulous story? You can find UP IN THE AIR on Amazon here, on Barnes and Noble here, and on Goodreads here. In Canada, it will be able for order at Amazon here and Chapters/Indigo here. Make sure you ask at your local bookstore first!

You can find Ann Marie Meyers online at these links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnMarieMeyersauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnMarie_Meyers
Website: http://www.annmarie-meyers.com/

Hope you have a great CANADA DAY, wherever you are!

Brenda