While the Years May Go By

Above image: On my way to Ottawa last weekend to build wreaths and bring in the bows. Last week in Petawawa, volunteers made over 2,500 bows. The volunteers included military community members and team members from the Pembroke Lumber Kings. This week I will take in another 1,000 bows. Bottom left, my maid of honour, Gillian, and I taking a break from building wreaths at Beechwood. 

As I approach this weekend, the deadline for assembling the wreaths for the Wreaths Across Canada’s ceremony looms over me. It has been a crazy couple of weeks as we build the wreaths and make the bows.

This Sunday is the organization’s last chance to finish the wreaths. We still have approximately 1,500 wreaths to put together on Nov. 28, 2022, for the ceremony on Dec. 4, 2022. If you are free and in the Ottawa area – please come and join us at Beechwood. Your help would be very much appreciated. While it has been a little tiring, it has also been heartwarming to see so many people participate by coming out to build wreaths or make red bows at home.

Not only are we working towards a great goal, but last week at the wreath working bee, which is what I call it, I had a great surprise. My maid of honour, Gillian, and her husband attended. We had not seen each other in 20 years. The last time we laid eyes on each other was when our family drove through Winnipeg, MB, on our way to London, ON, back in 2002. We quickly caught up.

While Gillian and I met in Chilliwack, B.C., in 1992, when we were both young moms, we spent our maternity leave together. We were walking partners and spent a lot of time pushing strollers and chatting. When the base was downsizing, my husband was posted to Edmonton, and when the base finally closed, Gillian’s husband went to Winnipeg.

Flash-forward 30 years, and we are now both grandmas. While years have passed, it felt like we had chatted in person just yesterday. That is one of the neat things about military life and our community. You may not see someone for many years, but when you run into the person, it seems like time melts away, and you don’t miss a beat. I am hoping we will get to spend time together again tomorrow.

In This Issue…

In this week’s issue, you will find the Canadian Army Commanding Officer and Regimental Sergeant Major appointments for 2022 and 2023. Check out the list here. Also, if you enjoy jumping out of a perfectly good plane, don’t miss the article regarding applications for the annual augmentation to the Skyhawks 2023 Team. Applications close Nov. 30. You can read about it here.

And the 2023 Special Requirements Commission Plan announcement was recently sent out. The plan aims to give non-commissioned members a chance to move to the ranks of commissioned members while allowing the military to capitalize on the skills of chief warrant officers (CWO) and chief petty officers (CPO1). Read more about it here.

If you are looking for something to watch this weekend, we have a few ideas sure to keep you entertained. If you are a Sharon Horgan fan and have Apple+, don’t miss Bad Sisters. While it is somewhat dark, it kept me entertained and guessing right to the end. I loved it. With all the episodes uploaded, you can binge-watch them. Also on this week’s list is Pepsi, Where is my Jet? Last night My husband and I started watching it, and it is binge-worthy. As we watched it, all that kept running through my mind was how forgetting the fine print on an advertisement can be incredibly detrimental and costly to a marketing campaign. Check out all the shows here.

If you still need to get outside to decorate your house for the festive season, we have six simple steps to decorate your home. This is how I decorate my house when my husband is deployed during the holidays. It is also what I plan to do as soon as I finish work today. Read the article here.

With the festive season upon us, this week, our recipe is Marvellous Mulled Wine – it is delicious and one recipe our family looks forward to every year. You can find the recipe here. Also, make sure to check out this week’s #SightSeeingSunday image. It is from Amsterdam, Netherlands. View it here.

We have lots more, so make sure you check out our E-Zine here!

Until next week,

Pax Tecum,