Forgotten sacrifice of veterans’ families

Yesterday was Veterans Day. It is right and proper to set aside a day for remembering the sacrifices our Armed Forces Veterans have made and many continue to make.

But there is a group of people who have given as much, and in some cases more, who really never receive the recognition their sacrifices deserve. Those are the families of veterans; the parents and wives and siblings and children whose sacrifice of a normal life made it possible for their loved one to devote a period of time to serving and defending their country.

Sometimes the effect on the families of veterans is dismissed as a temporary inconvenience, but the changes to the whole family and every member of it are as significant and permanent as those of the veterans themselves. And yet so often they are unrecognized and under appreciated for their contributions.

It doesn’t require an act of Congress or a date on the calendar or a monument or a cheesy certificate signed by the President to acknowledge someone’s contribution and express appreciation.

Do you know a veteran’s family member? Does she or he know their country appreciates their service too?

Note: In the interest of full disclosure; I am the former wife of a United States Air Force Retired Officer.

NaNoWriMo Week 2 Update

We’re at week two of National Novel Writing Month.

For those interested in the stats: I have logged 22K words, my 15 NaNo buddies combined word count is hovering at about half a million and therefore halfway to our group word goal. Of course that doesn’t count the nearly three-quarters of a million words in support posts we have published on our group forum thread and Facebook walls.

That first week went by in a blur. In way that first week reminded me of the start of the Great Ocean of Fire race in the film Hidalgo. It’s a long distance race over many days but the way some of the competitors charged off the line gives the impression that it’s won on the first day.

NaNoWriMo is a month-long novel writing challenge – a race if you want to think of it that way. It’s possible, and some have even done it, to write all 50K words on the first day. If the only thing you come for is the 50K words and the purple bar in your profile, then that’s what you’ll get. Some of us come for other reasons in addition to the purple bar.

I find there is a spiritual component to doing NaNo. In a way it is every bit a wilderness experience as the Great Ocean of Fire or Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. In order to get to the finish at all you have to strip your life down to essentials.

In the film Hopkins has his horse, as much food and water as he can carry, a shifting mixture of faith and his wits, and the guidance of his appointed interpreter to survive the desert and its hazards. The Bible says that Jesus had nothing but spiritual communion with God for 40 days to sustain him against Satan’s temptations. During NaNo it comes down to the writer and his or her writing tools, infusions from a support network, and overcoming their own demons in order to write a novel in 30 days.

No one comes out of any of these experiences the same person they were when they started. You learn something about the stuff you are made of. Participating in NaNoWriMo challenges what is really important on your list of activities. The process of writing day after day forces you to start listening to the things that are floating around loose in your head and making choices about those ideas.

Only a few NaNoWriMos will ever become published and paid as an author; that’s the reality. Far more, however, find and eventually act on what is really important to do with their lives that contribute to the greater good.

Have you undertaken something challenging and found you came away with something you didn’t expect?

Creating Home: update

In August I wrote about creating a new home as part of a transition in Home is not just where you hang your hat. With the holidays coming up, home and a sense of being at home is more important that ever. So it seemed a good time to do an update on my own home creation in conjunction with writing about getting ready for the holidays.

First let me be clear that I am not finished settling in. My original plan was to allow a full year for getting through all the cartons and becoming truly settled in. Since this is more like a marathon than a dash my pacing feels about right overall. There are occasional sprints for position like finding a conversation space in the living room or the space to have my granddaughter spend the night; but overall I am rather methodically going from project to project.

A lot has been accomplished since my last post. When I wrote that post I was wedged among stacks of furniture, cartons and storage tubs. The dining room was box city and unusable. There was a single path from the front door through the length of my apartment. I was in the door but not really living.

Since then I have unpacked and tossed half the cartons as well as sorted and downsized about half the tubs. I can entertain guests and eat at my dining table. I have living, work and resting space. The best part is that my bedroom is starting to feel like a real retreat space.

But some of this progress came at a price. Some things I had to give up. Some things were easier than others things to give up. Five cartons of used books had to go. I still have plenty of books, never fear. I also had to choose between the dining table and the buffet since there wasn’t room for both. There will probably be more things to be given up as time goes by, but I’ll cross those bridges when they come.

I made a couple of acquisitions too. You may wonder where I had room for anything else but trust me these earn their keep. When the buffet went I knew I would eventually need a small serving cart. Well a free one showed up across the street. It’s very compact but can be unfolded to make a longer serving space. The other piece I picked up was a headboard for my bed. I found a lovely one at a charity fundraiser for $15.

One of the things I have started doing is getting out my decorative pieces and hanging things on the walls. My fall things have been out since Labor Day and will stay up through Thanksgiving. I’m not expecting to host anybody’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner but I have plans to do some small-scale entertaining and that means I need to take care of some unfinished tasks. Anticipating the holidays and the indoor living of the winter months takes some fore-thought for a new or temporary home.

The biggest consideration is space. In the warmer months when most activities took place outdoors a few unpacked or out of season items probably weren’t that noticeable. Planning for at-home dinners, game nights, or watching movies requires some open space for guests to feel comfortable and not cramped. This also means that the scale of holiday decorations needs to be adjusted; not only for space considerations but for how much time is practical to invest in decorating.

Between now and Thanksgiving week I will be finding a place to store my warm season gear I am not getting rid of. At the same time I have some cartons and tubs to sort through and consolidate in order to find more space. Finally I will redo how my home office sits in the corner of the living room so the conversation area is roomier. The goal is to have the rooms set for Christmas decorating before the seasonal change over begins.

How are you getting ready for the change of seasons?

NaNoWriMo Week 1 Update

Well, NaNoWriMo is off and running.

My online buddies and I celebrated by participating in a first 15 minutes writing challenge. Some of the women in the group are pretty fast typists and yours truly is not one of them but I can hold my own. Still our resulting word counts ranged from just over 300 to almost 800.

As of this morning I have the equivalent of three chapters done and about 6000 words tallied.

What is a word challenge and why bother?

NaNo can become terribly solitary when you’re writing for hours at your own laptop or desktop. It’s like running a race against a clock without another runner to gauge your pace or pose a challenge. Word wars, challenges, and dares create a sense of competition for short spurts and helps Wrimos over writing droughts.

But it’s also fun. Maybe the text that comes out in these dares and challenges can’t be used in a real book but once in a while when you stop trying so hard to be brilliant a really brilliant, or at least useful, thought sneaks out. Some of those thoughts that slip out in during a dare can take the next section or chapter or even the course of the rest of the manuscript in a whole new direction. A direction that is sharper or more insightful or more active. In general it can take the piece in just a better direction.

Short and sweet posts this month

One effect of doing NaNoWriMo is that posts will be shorter this month. Probably readers need a break from my usual lengthy epistles anyway. However, there are only so many typing hours in a week and I have to meet all my deadlines.

So the November schedule, subject to modification, will have NaNo updates on Tuesdays and more typical posts on Thursdays.

Edit: Added title; sorry I missed it in my rush yesterday.