Posting Phase Six: Season of See You Later

Today I begin the long Season of See-You-Laters.

I say season, because goodbye doesn't happen all at once (as most frequent-movers know). It's a process. Sometimes painful (my twelve-year-old's bestest, bestest friends EVER), sometimes celebratory (the twit at the end of the road that tried to hit my dog every time he drove by--yeah, wasn't sad to say goodbye to him on that posting...), each goodbye has a story. Some people I'll remember. Some people I won't. Some friends will be life-long, and some I'll never hear from again.

The process starts long before I pull out of my driveway for the final time. We haven't even gone on a house hunting trip and it's already started here. Saying goodbye starts when I realize I'm not going to be in that part of town again, when I look at my calendar and do a double-take at the surprising lack of time before our drive-out date. I start cramming in coffee dates and dinner parties and last minute meet-ups--slowly at first... But each time I see a colleague, a co-worker, a friend... I recognize it might be your last.

Goodbye is hard.

Hence the See-You-Later.

You see, after twenty-plus years of military friendships, it becomes obvious that goodbye is rarely forever. And with today's social media, goodbye is becoming almost unnecessary. I can Facebook with friends I haven't seen in twenty years and tweet with people from ten different postings. And sooner or later, we'll be posted back together again, so why bother with goodbye?

I prefer 'see ya soon', or 'until next time'. Who knows what will happen?

But today is my last day of work at my day job as a physiotherapist at a long term care facility. A job I absolutely love. I've only been there four months, but I wish, for once, I could stay. It's a perfect complement to my writing career, it pays well, and I get to spend time with amazing people...some of whom are nearly a century old.

I hope 'see you later' will be the right call today, while I'm finishing up paperwork and tidying up my space, because I'd love to see some of these elderly ladies again. They have such wonderful stories. Such interesting histories. Sadly, they don't tweet, and they don't Facebook.

I've still got lots of time in this house/posting (thank goodness!) and I've got lots of time to finish my final coffee dates. I'll be back in this area again, so I'll say see-you-later, and I'll hope that our paths cross again.

Brenda


Like Posting Phases? More to come! Check out the first five here:

Posting Phase Five: The Long Wait

Posting Phase Four: The Stash and Dash

Posting Phase Three: Orders!

Posting Phase Two: Closet Clean-out

Posting Phase One: Real Estate Research

Military Monday: Careers for Military Spouses - Education

PART 3 OF A 3 PART SERIES

One of the many problems for military spouses attempting to embark on a new career path is the difficulty in obtaining a degree or diploma in their preferred field. Once again, we move. And our husbands go away a lot. And we often have young children at home and no family in the same time zone, let alone the same town. The application deadlines generally fall before posting messages come out, so even when you do apply, there's no guarantee you'll be able to follow through. And education is expensive! How do you afford four or more years of courses when you are barely making ends meet now?

So...is there any hope for a military spouse looking to get a new start in the job market?


In a word...YES! Although no one can guarantee it will be easy (it won't), there are many avenues you can pursue, and many military spouses have successfully completed the necessary education in spite of the challenges. The big question is how?

Firstly, all Canadian Military Family Resource Centres have an Education and Training component with Resource Libraries and links to help you investigate the possibilities. Whether it be for adult high school, college, university, or other courses, they are there to help you succeed. Start your journey by paying them a visit.

Not in Canada? Although I'm no expert on the American/British/Australian/other systems, similar programs exist to help you as well. Military.com has a tab dedicated to education for American spouses(as well as many other sites), and for British MoD spouses I believe the HIVE system has resources to help you.

When narrowing down to a specific course of study, a military spouse has to consider several key factors:

1. Does the educational institution have a distance learning possibility for your course? Some universities operate almost entirely online. Abathasca University is one example that has a great track record and is very portable. Other universities suggested by my readers included U of Manitoba, and Mount Saint Vincent University.

2. Is financial assistance available? Some universities offer special scholarships for adult learners, there are also tax breaks for those enrolled in secondary education. A low interest loan may be the best bet. Or, have you considered doing your degree on one of the military training plans, like ROTP? (I got my physiotherapy degree this way) Talk to your local MFRC or the finance/tuition assistance section of your university for more info.

3. Childcare? How can I study with the kids at home? Nothing like having a sick toddler and a twenty page paper due the next day. All I can say to this one is that there is always a way. Not necessarily an easy or perfect way, but a way. Talk to your spouse, friends, MFRC, university, family members...and figure it out. Plan around naptimes and bedtimes. And plan to keep long hours and late nights.

4. What happens if...? Expect problems. Completing a new degree or diploma will take time, energy and money. You will have questions and no idea how to get the answers. You'll have sick kids and no child care, long assignments and no time. You'll get an unexpected posting message. Your spouse will be deployed. Try to plan ahead for possible snags so that when they happen you'll be prepared. In the end it will be worth it!

When it comes to your education...there is always a way.

Have an spousal education story or an education solution you'd like to share? Know something I don't? (Very likely :) )Please comment below, or talk to me on facebook here. You may just help another spouse in the same situation!

Thanks and have a great week!

Brenda

Military Mondays: Meet Roberta Flood

FOUNDER OF ZQUARED AWAY

Roberta Flood

Today’s guest is Roberta (Bobbi) Flood, a friend, entrepreneur and US Coast Guard wife, currently residing in the D.C area.  Bobbi and I met thirteen years ago when we (well, actually our husbands) were both posted to USCG Air Station Elizabeth City and our kidlets were babies. Some serious book clubbing and baby play-dates ensued…and through the wonders of Facebook we’ve managed to keep in touch.

Welcome Bobbi! Thanks so much for joining us on Military Monday!

Thanks Brenda.  I have been reluctant to join Facebook for years, but now I see how wonderful it is to reconnect with pals from the past.  I’m so glad to have found you and learn about your writing career.

So Bobbi, tell us a little about yourself. What is your connection to the military?

I’m military through and through.  I was raised as an Army Brat moving every two to three years.  We were fortunate enough to experience overseas duty stations such as Italy and Korea.  I was in the Army myself for seven years.  Now my husband is a U.S. Coast Guard pilot and we are moving our family around the country every few years.  It has come full circle for me I guess.

 

Can you give us a brief outline of your career path, and how the Coast Guard/Military life has affected it?

Brenda, I have to tell you that I pretty much do most things in the wrong order.  After college and during my first job I felt the desire to join the military.  So I enlisted in the Army.  Boy did the drill sergeants have fun with that: a college educated recruit.  I served in the Illinois Army National Guard while juggling my work for the Department of Natural Resources as a grower of native plant species.  During this time I took leave to do the OCS program (officer candidate school), start graduate school in Landscape Architecture, and eventually was selected for flight school. 

After I got married, my husband started his career in the Coast Guard.  And we decided to have a family.  I self selected myself out of everything.  The funny thing was that I really thought I could be a stay at home mom, do landscape design on the side, and fly in a reserve unit all at the same time.  After a few weeks with a new born, I quickly realized I wouldn’t get anything done but maybe a load of laundry, and not even folded at that.

Flash forward a decade now.  We have moved every few years and grown our family.  A friend of mine had a house fire and lost everything including heirloom photos, scrapbooks, and pre-digital memories.  It got me thinking.  As an army helicopter pilot, I was used to wearing Nomex flight suits that have some inherent flame resistance. I could not let go of the idea that fire protection for household memorabilia could come in more forms that are fire safe.  It took me about 6 or 7 years to incubate the idea.

 

Tell us about ZquaredAway…how did your company come into being?

I finally reached the point were I was ready to jump on in and give this idea a try.  I spent the last two years in product development, testing, marketing and building a brand. It has been a ton of work but if nothing else, I have learned so much.  A business owner has to know a little about everything from payroll to the needle and thread size to use in manufacturing.

 

How are sales going? Any plans for the future?

ZquaredAway is now selling on Amazon with success.  Amazon offers a start-up the opportunity to reach millions.  We just need a decimal of that amount to prove my concept.  We plan to team up with a manufacturing facility here in the USA to expand production.  

Back to your military background, what are some of your favourite things about the Coast Guard life?

I love to tell people about where my kids go on their field trips because that pretty much shows how blessed we are to move to such unique regions. In Alaska, the kids would walk from school to a tidal basin and pick up starfish and sea cucumbers. In Cape Cod, they took trips to Martha’s Vineyard.  In Arizona, a graduate school tour for my husband, we were only two hours from the Grand Canyon and the kid’s classes would go hike up there. Now we are in the D.C. area.  We are ten minutes from all the monuments and capital hill and the field trip possibilities are endless.  These are places that people dream their entire lives of visiting.

 

What about challenges? Do your feel that life as a Coastie wife has presented challenges that others may not have experienced?

Brenda, I’d like to answer that in regards to career and kids.  First, no matter how we tell ourselves that moving is a benefit for our children and that it makes them stronger, more resilient kids, the truth is it doesn’t make it any easier on them.  They have to prove themselves in a new group of kids each time they move and establish who they are. It is so important to be there for them during each transition. 

As a spouse, I had pretty much given up on a career.  Unless you are in a career field that needs folks anywhere, establishing a steady climbing career is just tough.  I chose to lean out and be a steady factor for our kids. I have a friend that likes to say “there will be many chapters to her life.”  I love that quote because I understand that now.  I feel blessed to be able to begin another new chapter now.

That's a great saying--"many chapters".  I may have to use that sometime. Thanks so much for joining us Bobbi! Maybe someday we’ll get down your way again to share a glass of wine.

Thank you Brenda for the opportunity to share my thoughts. Good luck on your next book.  You’re an inspiration to us all.

Aww... :) I've only done a few of these posts, and I'm already finding out so much about military spouses. How strong they are, how inventive they are, and how dedicated they are to their husbands/wives and families. It's been a privilege having you on my blog.

 

You can find out more about Bobbi’s fabulous ZquaredAway fire, water, and heat  resistant covers at: https://www.zquaredaway.com/ . She’s also on Facebook.

 

Brenda

 

 

Military Monday: Meet...Me.

Welcome!

...to my new Monday blog series! I've had super responses from military spouses and family members all over the world. Over the next few months...as I count down to the BIG RELEASE of my upcoming novel, DEPENDENT, I hope to introduce you to the faces behind (and in front) of the uniform. The lesser known, but no less important support system that helps our soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines and coasties do the job they need to do.

I would love to hear your story, tell the world about your product, or champion your charity...so if you support a uniform in any way, leave a note in the comments, contact me via my Facebook page, or email me at overdunnemail@yahoo.ca and I'll do my best to make your Military Monday happen.

Meet...Me!

To kick the series off, you get to hear about me. Yup, me. What brought me to write about a military spouse? Why am I qualified to share her story?

Me, eighteen years old, somewhere in British Columbia

It's hard to believe, but I've been associated with the military for almost twenty-five years. I joined (yes JOINED) the military when I was eighteen as a part of the Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP) and went off to basic training to march around and carry a rifle. The military paid for part of my university degree...and then gave me a physiotherapy job for almost five years afterward. I met lots of military folks, and their spouses, and then one day met a very special pilot who eventually became my husband.

When we married, I took my release from the Canadian Armed Forces, and we moved together on our first posting. We've now been married for 16 years, lived in nine (yes, 9) different homes in three different countries and I've held seven different physiotherapy jobs and one barista job since that time. My husband has been deployed several times-- once to the Middle East. Last year he lived four hours away from us while he was on course for eleven months. The word on the street is that the Dunne family will be packing up house in the spring of 2014 and moving somewhere else. Where? Your guess is as good as mine!

My amazing family

I could bore you with tales of woe, but for the most part it has been a great ride. I think part of the reason why is the strength of our family, and the commitment we have to sucking everything we can out of each posting. We go on day trips. We get involved. We sign up for perks. We live on the farm we wanted and deal with long commutes because that's what it takes. We turn posting trips into adventures, not horror stories. We have fun.

Over the next few months I hope to share some of my happy moments and my horror stories (believe me, there are both) and also to share the experiences of others like me, and yet not like me. I hope you'll join in, and share your similar stories.

Thank you for stopping by! If you'd like, say hello in the comments below so I can meet you too.

See you next week as we meet another military spouse with a different story...

Brenda

Coming Soon: Military Mondays (and a quick update)

Military Mondays

Are you part of a military family? Do you have a story to tell? Than I want YOU!

In anticipation of the upcoming release of DEPENDENT (tentatively releasing early summer 2014), I'd like to begin a regular blog post feature showcasing military families. DEPENDENT is, first and foremost, a story of a military spouse dealing with issues--big issues. But we all know that not all military spouses are the same. My heroine, Ellen, is not me, just like I'm not you. Each one of us has different experiences. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard... it doesn't matter what service your loved one is part of. Military families have rich, sometimes difficult, sometimes rewarding lives. And military kids deal with a whole range of challenges unique to them.

So to celebrate our uniqueness, I'd like to help you tell your story. Whether through a brief interview (five or six questions), a specific topic (like 'dealing with constant change', 'friends forever', 'out of country postings'...) or celebrating an accomplishment, a charity or a life event that you hold dear... I'd like to hear your side of things.

Interested? Comment below, message my author page on facebook, or email me at overdunnemail@yahoo.ca and we can book you in.

Quick Update

Some quick news:

*TREASURE IN THE FLAME can now be purchased at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario and the Spencerville Mill in Spencerville, Ontario! For other locations to find TREASURE, just click on the tab above.

*SIGNINGS! I'll be at Chapters Gloucester in Eastern Ottawa on August the 10th, signing TREASURE! More info on the tab above!

*DEPENDENT is back in the hands of my publisher, undergoing first pass edits. Lots of other exciting things happening--check back here regularly to find out what's up!


Have a great Tuesday,

Brenda

Seven great things from the USA

Happy 4th of July!

I may live in Canada, but have spent more than half of my life within 50 miles of the great U-S-of-A. In fact, some of my very best memories arise from years spent on the coast of Maine with my family, swimming on the Outer Banks, and--of course--walking through the gates of 'The Happiest Place on Earth'.

So because today is a day to celebrate the United States (or America Day as my kids used to call it) I'd like to share seven wonderful things about America on the Fourth.

1. Two of my favorite (note the lack of a U in favorite. I did it just for you guys) people were born there. I'm not talking about Oprah or Walt or any celebrity. Nope. My wonderful husband hails originally from the US. And while we were on a posting in North Carolina we were blessed with our youngest, a beautiful baby girl.

2. My amazing agents, Jenn and Fran at Literary Counsel. Not enough superlatives to describe these two. So lucky to have found them with the help of another wonderful American, Tina Moss!

My favorite little American on the Coast of Maine

3. The coast of Maine. As I mentioned above, some of the happiest memories of my childhood Machias, ME. Eating lobsters fresh from the wharf, climbing over rocks and seaweed, searching for sea glass on the beach...so many great times spent at my grandfather's cottage. Some of these memories may just be finding their way into my current manuscript.
happened on a beautiful coastline near

4. The Outer Banks. We had the great fortune to spend two years in North Carolina on an exchange posting with the US Coast Guard. Two amazing years, in which we met people we still chat with regularly--both Coast Guard and civilian. Our lovely neighbours had a beach house on the Outer Banks, and we visited the beaches often on day trips. Hush puppies and crab cakes and sand between your toes. What more could a girl ask for?

5. Jolly Fish Press. I love hangin in the fish tank! Can't wait to see DEPENDENT hit the shelves. You JFP folks are awesome.

6. My cousins. The Connecticut Coreys are the best. Hope you are all having a great 4th! Wish I could be there to share it with you!

And lastly...

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies! Call 'em Toll House, or call 'em delicious. Those little bites of yumminess are American through and through, and I think I need to make some now.

Hope y'all have a stupendous day, however you are spending it!

Brenda