Dear Military Member and family too,

It is already February and I haven’t had a minute to put my thoughts on paper, so first of all, happy new year! I hope 2025 has started positively and with purpose. If you are like us, you are waiting for the paperwork to confirm that this posting is indeed coming to and end and you must move.

It is time to get busy waiting. Too soon to sort out the paintings on the wall and work out exactly which furniture will stay and go with you, because you don’t know what the new house will look like. Equally it is time to think about what schooling might look like for your children, what work might look like and who you are leaving behind.

Each time we move, we put down roots and every time we move, we must pull them up, leaving a little part of us behind. It hurts the heart and seems to be all the more painful when it involves our children. What I am doing is writing poems for the people who mean the most and making them into a photo book of the time we shared. I make one copy for my friends and one copy stays with me, so my children can also enjoy the poem and memories.

I did one last year for our friends who left and while I do not speak to those people as often as I would like, when we do make contact they always say how much the girls like the book.

This military life is a strange one. It is so enriching and so fraught with emotion. The biggest thing I am learning is that it is okay to feel all the feelings, happiness, sadness, fear, excitement. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t feel all these things and I am making sure that I discuss these feelings with my children. They need the language so they can share why they are frustrated or angry. It’s one of the gifts I can give them in this ever-changing life of theirs.

If you are moving too, please check out the little stories available on this website that you can adapt for your child to help understand the moving process.

Good luck. Enjoy the calm before the posting storm. Whatever the feelings you feel today, its okay.

Nicola