I’m 67 years old and am now an orphan. I guess. My father recently joined my mother this year in their family plot, in the small prairie town where they both grew up, married, then left for their lifetimes as a military family. In retirement, after four children cast off along the way, they circled … More Grief. Again. Always.
The rough summer is over, my executor duties aren’t done, but they’re under control, my father laid to final rest in his Manitoba hometown cemetery with my mother. At 67, I’m an orphan! Time for me? We’ll see. Life goes on. The weather is holding, summer-like but better, crisper. Curling started. My husband is itching … More 2025 September Read and Review
Hard to introduce this essay, as it intersects with so many facets of my life. I originally wrote it for a story call about military children and their military generational traditions, but soon realized that it was about how military children fit in a bit sideways growing up in wider non-military families. I also noticed … More My (Non) Military Grandmother
Third month, 3rd installment of Stevie’s Monthly Read and Review. Back to finishing : March is living up to its reputation for wild weather. Snowstorms started the month, (yay, in like a lion, so maybe out like a lamb?), and today heavy rains expected. As is the river flooding probably this year. Not yet, more … More 2025 March Read and Review
2025_February – Yes, this is my back yard pathway right now. Snowy is the word. Second Installment of Stevie’s Read and Review. February is my second-least-favourite month, so thank goodness it’s short! (Nothing beats November for the blahs. Wait, you’ll see.) This year February includes a cruise down south. And reading, of course, always reading. … More 2025 February Read and Review
It’s the middle of January and snow is falling here in Aylmer, Quebec. My kids’ hometown. My fellow military brats understand that last, as in, moved so much while growing up that we don’t claim our own “hometown” (See Home. Again and Again about that.) I posted my 2024 Reading List recently, but am not … More 2025 January Read and Review
2024 Reading List Here we go. The years keep on chunking by. Luckily, so do books; reading them is one of the ways I spend my share of planetary turns around the sun. A pleasurable use, with never enough time to do it as much as I want. Like anything pleasurable, I guess! So here’s … More 2024 Reading List
You know you’re a military brat when… There are many ways to finish this thought. One way that I experienced this past week with my husband (and former brat himself, now a retired military veteran) while on a couple days getaway, is this. You are travelling, sight-seeing in a new area about a day’s drive … More You Know You’re a Military Brat when…
I re-read the earlier post about retirement in Year 6 musings, and must admit, it’s been an eventful year of change since. As noted before, by about years 5-6-7, I no longer felt, nor do I now feel, “retired”. I’m just living life at the stage I find myself. Retirement goals of becoming a published … More Retirement Musings Year 7
An Author Experiment 2023 is more than half over. Now in my mid-60s, my own life is more than half over. No regrets, just surprise sometimes as I contemplate that. Like most of you, the past few years have been challenging, but again, like most of you, (hopefully), I’ve come through and am enjoying the … More Book Sales Direct
Stevie Szabad, Author 