So have I mentioned I'm back to work. lol

So I’m back to work. I had a dream of sorts realized – of sorts – I’m a writer. Not the kind of writer I dream of being. I have this romantic notion of being an OpEd writer for a major newspaper and well that ship has sailed and I wasn’t on it. I didn’t even make it to the dock to see it disappear off the horizon. This is a close 43rd though so I’ll settle for it . I’m a speechwriter.

My real live job title is “Policy Development Officer.” I’m one of about 100. In order to keep us current on relevant every two or three year they move us around to do different things. In my last position I was one of 3 civilians policy officers working on NATO policy. I was responsible for our bilateral Defence relations with Easter Europe. I was responsible to foreign military training in Canada and I handled out Afghanistan deployment file as part of a larger team. All operational, pointy end stuff. This is my first foray, within my ten-year career, into the public policy side of the house. I didn’t know what I would be doing until a few days before I came in. I was mildly surprised to learn yesterday that this isn’t the most popular of postings. It has such great potential for career advancement. You get face-to-face time with senior staff on a regular basis (4 or us write speeches for the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence and the Deputy Minister of Defence with the odd Member of Parliament thrown in for good measure), you are allowed to escape bureaucratic speak and really right real stuff and best of all – it’s a portable skill. For the first time since I started working her I have an exportable skill. Not much call for defence policy advisors in the public sector. Anyways, I’m happy.

It had looked that I might be able to duck travel in this job as well but we had a big meeting yesterday and one of the things discussed was getting us out into the world more so that we are writing about experiences rather than things we have read about. So it looks like there will be some travel involved mostly in the summer months when speeches dwindle. I like the idea of experiencing things though – I would really love to fly in a CF-18. Don’t think that’s going to happen though. Lol

My office is adorned with pictures of the kids and is sooooooo quiet it’s hard to believe. I haven’t had to tell even one of my colleagues to stop biting one another or not to throw food even once. And no one naps here (so not everything is wonderful). The kids seem to have adjust well although Kamryn asked me all weekend why I wasn’t at work. She is very interested in my schedule but she’s a schedule obsessed kind of person – “where are we going today Maman” being a constant question. Sam is a little more huggy – that I will take any day – but apart from that doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects. I think this might be good for both of us. When Daniel isn’t home both kids go to my parents for the day. So far, so good. We’ll see how that works. I have Sam on a waiting list for daycare (he has been since February) because I’m not certain my poor mother can handle him full time but we’ll see.

Okay I’m going to do some actual work now.