Growing up I was a latch key kid.

There weren’t a lot of us at the time. We were the children of the working class or single parents. We wore keys around our necks to ensure we didn’t lose them and when we arrived home at the end of the day there was nobody to meet us because they were working.

Being the child of a single mom in a time when there were few single parents made our family the minority. It was the early 80s when I started wearing the key. I was in Grade 4 and I wore that key with pride, in the beginning. I had a key to our house. Our home. Our castle. I was trusted and it felt good.

One of the unexpected side effects of my husband retiring from the military is that … well … how should I say this…he never leaves. Which seems like a strange thing to complain about…and I’m not really complaining so much as …well…forget it, I’m complaining. But not because I don’t enjoy his company …I’ve just never had quite so much of it. Here’s what I mean.

Throughout our military days, and especially the last few years, my husband had jobs that required lots of short-term travel – gone for four days, back for three, gone for two, back for seven. You get the picture.

I`ve invited food consciousness into my daily life with a food journal. I also signed up for Weight Watchers. So far, I love the group support and a focus on food consciousness with the points plus system. I`m pretty much the youngest woman in class. The average age of the class is 62+. I love older women, though, since they usually have a fair amount of wisdom to pass down. And I can use all the wisdom I can get, especially concerning weight loss.

I will be `weight watching` for the rest of my life. I don`t feel a time pressure on weight loss.

The week I began “the job of a lifetime” our family’s oldest cat’s health took a turn for the worst.

Last December I applied for a job as a reporter at the local daily paper here in the Ottawa Valley. I was hired and started the job at the end of February. I am still working hard on Ubiquitous and I still believe love and passion make the world go around – but unfortunately they don’t pay the bills. Plus, working at a daily newspaper is a great experience for any writer.

So, I began my job and our 17 year-old feline’s health failed. I adopted Fred on Halloween eve 1995. We had adopted his sister Winnie a week before from the Chilliwack SPCA. I went to pay for her, and picked Fred up, much to my husband’s dismay. We adopted them for our oldest daughter’s second birthday. They were very young – five weeks old- and sickly when they joined our family. They took up residence on our bed and slept on our pillows. They were grey tabbies and beautiful.

Okay, so maybe turning (gulp) thirty hasn’t been that bad. Maybe I did overreact a tad. I’m starting to suspect that I was treating the whole situation in the way that my dogs react to going to the vet.

There was a lot of kicking and growling but I was only inconvenienced for a little while and even got a treat out of it.
For one thing, it was the perfect excuse to finally treat myself to the thing I have spent years searching for and coveting. To date, I have purchased no less than three fakes in my quest to own one. It`s been my vision, my dream—to own an authentic Louis Vuitton purse.

I feel awful about it. A wonderful relationship and I cheated. It’s not really something I could have avoided, it’s not something any of us could avoid – we have needs.

So I admit it, I cheated. I cheated on my hair stylist, my massage therapist, my house cleaner, and my doctor. We spend years developing these relationships, we share personal details, we invest our time, give our trust, and then we move away and are just expected to replace them? I think not. They are more than just their role that they are hired to perform; they listen to us almost as our personal shrink.

I wouldn’t call myself a world traveller, but I have planned the occasional trip to Europe, Disneyworld, St. Martin and our family’s most recent venture at Christmas to Panama.

While planning the Panama trip I spent hours on-line to avoid an overnight stay in Miami due to the hassle of seven people getting off a flight, piling into a cab and checking into a hotel; then packing up the next morning to catch a flight, plus the extra costs associated with an overnight stay – hotel, cab and food. But as I learned sometimes destiny is unavoidable.

Bread is quite lovely. If you look at nutritional labels or analyze your bread recipes, you`ll notice whole grain breads are rich in nutrients, which are important to regulate your body`s system.

I am satisfied with a few small servings each day, as per the standard nutritional requirement. My mom, on the other hand, absolutely loves bread. Bread, for her, is the source of life – manna sent from heaven. That’s how I feel about sweets. Over the past few years, my love for sweets has morphed into obsession – an unhealthy love affair that`s now brought me into obesity.

I was presented my Enduring Spouse Pin last October.

I was covering an event at the Pembroke Legion where a number of local politicians were in attendance. I had just finished snapping a group photo of the all the dignitaries and I was asking Member of Parliament Cheryl Gallant a few questions when she asked me whether she had ever presented me with anything.

One of the most surprising realizations I’ve had in the six months since our depature from military life, is that military families really have it pretty good. Now, before you get all upset, I realize that deployments are hard. And moving is hard. And living in a PMQ can be terrible. But just hear me out.

We live on a cul-de-sac. There are 9 homes. We’ve lived here 6 months and have only spoken to the people in 5 of those homes. That’s right … 3 of the neighbours have never even come out of their houses to say hello.