The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation continues to host hiring fairs across the nation exclusively for military spouses.

As the calendar rolls closer to the holiday season, this might not be a good time to find a just any job, it could be a great time to be hired on as a seasonal worker too.

National companies attend the Hiring Our Heroes events specifically to hire military spouses. Many seasonal jobs often turn into full-time gigs for workers who put in the time and effort.

Remember to click on the link below and register. These events fill quickly and rarely take non-registered attendees. Dress smart and bring several copies of your resume. Good luck!

Oct. 3

Camp Lejeune, N.C.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/camp-lejeune-transition-summit-0

Oct. 11, 12

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/hawaii-transition-summit-0

Oct. 12

Detroit, Mich.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/detroit-hiring-fair-4

Oct. 17

Fort Jackson, S.C.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/fort-jackson-hiring-fair

Oct. 20

Warwick, RI

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/warwick-hiring-fair-2

Oct. 26

El Paso, Texas

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/el-paso-hiring-fair-0

Fort Hood, Texas

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/fort-hood-military-spouse-career-event

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N. J.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/joint-base-mcguire-dix-lakehurst-military-spouse-career-event

To see a schedule for the entire year, please visit https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/events/hiringfairs

By Allison Marlow

Mommy zombies are everywhere.

School has barely begun and already my friends are bleary-eyed, hunched in defeat as they drive from tumbling to cheer to scouts to tutoring to here to there to everywhere.

This kid needs money for homecoming. This one needs band shoes. That one has the wrong color folder for science. Another can’t find the three brand new uniform shirts we purchased in July.

There are notes heading home to pump you up for fundraisers! To warn you that one preschooler has already been diagnosed with foot and mouth disease. To gently remind you, to remind your kindergartener, to please not wipe boogers on the classroom walls. And someone in the band wore flip flops to practice. This, the text sent to every band parent screams, is not ok.

My friends have begun disappearing from texts, from Facebook messages, from weekly walks. They are too busy. The school year has taken over.

Like a giant monster, it has consumed them.

I get it. It’s easy to become lost in the swell of back to school neediness. We have five children. They are all involved, they all need something. Every. Single. Day.

And it took every single day of the first 10 years of being a mom to learn that cutting myself out of my schedule is not ok.

I didn’t exercise. I didn’t eat well. I didn’t worry about scheduling time for my own needs or to spend time with my husband. Heck, between his deployments, my job and the kids, there were days I didn’t schedule enough time to pick up the house.

And the monster consumed us. It exhausted us. It made us irritable and mean.

Now, I keep a written list of what I am going to do that day. At the top of it is my daily 2-mile walk. I make the trek, and cross it off. I plan the day before what our meals are going to be – including mine. No more running in and grabbing a handful of Oreos and heading to work. I make myself breakfast, a good breakfast and eat it alone in the quiet after the kids have caught the school bus. It’s delightful.

And sure, we still hustle through the day, and the hours between the end of the school day and dinner are insane to be certain. We still drive here, there and everywhere. But, time for homework is set aside when the running is over. We make a point to find that 30 minutes squashed between the activities to eat together, even if one person is finishing their meal at that point and the rest are just beginning. We are all together.

And bed time is a sacred time. Anything scheduled past 8 p.m. on a weeknight, doesn’t happen. The door is shut. The kids are sent to bed. My husband and I stop worrying about the dishes or the project we are in the middle of and sit down and spend time together. Sometimes it’s 10 minutes, sometimes it’s an hour, but it’s our time.

This is hard to do. It’s hard to shut off the internal voice saying we have to be everywhere, do everything, volunteer for everyone. That daily list of to do’s stares me in the face. Some days it saves me from myself. Other days it feels like punishment, keeping me from what I should be doing – keeping me from everything pulling me in the other direction.

But now, as a mom of five, I exercise daily. I eat better, though Oreos still call my name. I actually get enough sleep.

As we sail the chaotic waves that is fall and back to school time, keeping myself and my own needs at the center of that crazy schedule has made all the difference.  

By Salute to Spouses Staff 

A new study suggests that suicide attempts within a military unit may lead to more.

This summer CNN reported that a study in the JAMA Psychiatry journal found that a suicide attempt by one individual in a unit is often followed by more attempts by other members of that unit. 

CNN reported, “The greater the number of previous suicide attempts in a unit, the greater the individual risk of a suicide attempt for a soldier in that unit, said Dr. Robert Ursano, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Department of Defense's Uniformed Services University.”

Historically, the rates of suicide in military ranks were about half of the civilian population. Since 2009, suicide rates among military members and veterans have remained above that of their civilian counterparts. According to the military health system, about 20 percent of suicide deaths in the United States are military veterans.

September is suicide aware and prevention month. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention urges individuals to be aware of warning signs and risk factors.

“When you approach someone you think might be struggling with suicide you might just have saved a life. If not, the odds are pretty big that they were in distress and needed someone to reach out. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Ashley Foster, area director for national organization’s Alabama and Mississippi chapters.

She said to be aware of this list of suicide warning signs:

Talk

If a person talks about:

• Being a burden to others
• Feeling trapped
• Experiencing unbearable pain
• Having no reason to live
• Killing themselves

Behavior

Specific things to look out for include:

• Increased use of alcohol or drugs
• Looking for a way to kill themselves, such as searching online for materials or means
• Acting recklessly
• Withdrawing from activities
• Isolating from family and friends
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Visiting or calling people to say goodbye
• Giving away prized possessions
• Aggression

Mood

People who are considering suicide often display one or more of the following moods:

• Depression
• Loss of interest
• Rage
• Irritability
• Humiliation
• Anxiety

If you need someone to talk to or are having feelings of suicide, call the national suicide hotline at 1-800-273-8255. The line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Learn more about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at: https://afsp.org

By Amy Nielsen

Nothing like stepping off the proverbial master’s degree cliff into your next career step - on Labor Day.

While I just completed a year-long, online certificate program, this beginning feels so much bigger. I am embarking on something I had no idea I would ever in a million years need to do, let alone want to do. I am so stoked for this educational adventure it makes me giggle.

My beloved has been working his way through his bachelor’s over the last few years, using various online learning platforms. I have used only the one my last program created as a proprietary system. It did use a module structure, which the current program uses as well. It is very helpful to have someone in the family who has already used this platform. He has figured out all sorts of tricks to make it easier to work with, like importing my assignment calendar into my google calendar. That he prefers this platform over all of the others he has worked with makes me feel more at ease.

I really like the module system. The Instructor for each class creates one module per week. All of the required work for that week is neatly packaged in reading order for you to step through completing assignments along the way. Usually there is a quiz at the end of the week to tie it all together. Each assignment remitted is date and time stamped and often logged into a collective forum where students can interact with each other. It’s like getting a shoebox full of the week’s work, no need to try to follow along with the syllabus.

I am full up with my schedule having chosen the two-year completion option when I registered. That means that I take five full-time classes a trimester. In reading the syllabi for each class some Instructors have neatly detailed out the expected minimum and maximum time to complete each module and assignment. This makes it much easier for me to plan out my weeks.

I had so much already planned for the fall before I embarked on this massive undertaking. I had travel plans, education plans for my homeschooled children, classes and workshops for my startup practice, not to mention regular housework and garden maintenance.

Honestly my biggest hurdle, and my biggest fear, is the timing of this whole process. In my other course, weekly class work was self-paced. If I missed a week for a trip I was on, I could catch up with my work and was not docked for being tardy. The only time-sensitive assignments were the four exams and the six conference calls.

This master’s program is back to hard-on academics. Time management at school has always been a weak point in my educational toolbox. I tend to do best if I can binge focus on a subject for a few days and get everything done at once. My hope is that the Instructors have not locked the modules in such a way as to not allow me to work ahead if I get a few free days.

Interaction among students is key for this degree program. It is highly emphasized through weekly discussion board assignments and chats. Because we are working on learning about the collaborative structure in integrative health care it is imperative that we learn to communicate effectively across a broad spectrum of peoples and fields. This is why timely interactions are weighted heavily and mandatory in nature. That makes it difficult to binge watch physiology.

I am planning to use the free hours between clients at my office to get school work done as well if I can get the internet system worked out.  If I can’t I can at least print out or download the articles I need to read, and then there are always the test book assignments to read. Plenty to do if I can’t get the internet working properly to stream the lecture videos.

There are two other areas in my student interface that I am interested to learn more about. The online access to the library and the open student forum. Back in the day when dinosaurs roamed and we used card catalogues, the library was one of my favorite places on campus. Visiting was like sitting in the chambers of the heart of the campus beast. Every library sort of feels like that to me now. I wonder at the feelings I will get from the virtual library.

I once took my baby brontosaurus butt to the volunteer student run vegan café in the student union for conversations and announcements among the bagels, chunky wool sweaters, rideshare boards, and oily black bean water. Now, this online student forum will be interesting and perhaps a bit less juicy than my previous collegiate experience.

All that being said, the hardest classes are going to be the self-paced mandatory “how to be a college student in the digital age” classes all incoming students have to take. I have a fluid writing style that is sometimes hard to fit into an academic format. I love to read and research but my citations are never done correctly the first time. I have two of these classes this trimester and they are going to be killers.

I am giving myself this first trimester to get my feet on the ground and sort out the ins and outs of this program. I will complete everything but I am also allowing myself a week or two of beginners mind and practice not perfection mantras while I wrap my brain around the amount of work I have just undertaken.

I suspect that within the next month I will at some point look back on today and wonder what all of the fuss was about. I will be running on autopilot, completing assignments with ease, switching from course to course like a seasoned student. I love learning. I love new information. I really dig academics. What I am terrified of is the school part of this journey. The deadlines and commitments. It’s going to be one heck of a march, but I have done harder and this one ends with a really great reward.

By Jenna Moede

We have already covered how I narrowed down my potential Master's degree options, but while I did that, I had to narrow down universities as well.  

This process took a lot of time, but once I figured out what I wanted out of a school, it became much easier.  

First, I took my time researching schools that offered the programs I had chosen as options. I looked into which schools offered those programs completely online because some of the schools offered them as hybrid programs which would have done me no good. I don't have the option to attend campus.  

Through my search, I found a couple of schools that really peaked my interest. They interested me for different types of reasons from website usability to extracurricular options, but at that point, I hadn't yet looked into the most important factors for me.  

I needed, most importantly, to look at some key information for each university. First, I wanted to know about their reputation overall.  

I wanted to know not only about the reputation overall but also about retention rates, graduation rates, return on investment, cost to students and the rate of students getting jobs in their fields after graduation. I factored each of these into my consideration and decision making.  

After I learned everything I wanted to know about the schools and their reputations, I had about five universities left.  

I finally requested information from those universities about the programs they had that interested me, and once I received the information whether by mail or email, I began to read through it and reach out to the admissions teams.  

Several of the schools assigned me to an admission advisor upon requesting information which made it super easy to ask questions and find out answers. One university did not assign me to an admissions advisor and because of that, I eliminated them from my options.  

Having learned my lesson the first time around with my Master's, I asked the admissions advisors right away about the programs, outlooks and told them about my goals. They helped me determine if the programs under consideration would really help me meet my long term goals or if they would waste more time and money (again).  

From there I could eliminate a few more schools, and I found that the admissions advisors told me only the facts about the program so I could make informed decisions. They didn't try to sway me into a program that wouldn't help me just to have another student attending the university.  

By the end I only had two universities left. By this time I knew I liked the website, extra-curriculars, education platforms, programs, staff and options so I checked out the last, deciding factor: money.  

I had already looked at the degree plans for each of the two final programs and I knew how many credits each would require so I looked at the cost per credit hour. One university of the two gave a significant discount for the spouses of active duty military personnel while the other did not.  

I made my final decision based on that. While I didn't consider cost the most important factor, leaving it for the final decision seemed like a good option because I already knew I liked everything else about the school and that the university would help me reach my goals so I knew I wouldn't be compromising based on a cheaper tuition.  

If neither one had offered a discount, I would have had a tougher decision to make because I liked both options very well, but in the end, I feel like I chose the university that checked all of my needs and most of my wants off of the list.  

By Salute to Spouses Staff

Nature strikes. After the tears and the destruction, it is time to pick up the pieces and start again.

For military families who move between states, and climates, knowing what to do after a natural disaster can be even more difficult. They didn’t grow up learning about tornadoes, hurricanes or mudslides. Every piece of information is new information.

Military spouses around the nation have been sharing - and adding to - a list of things “to do” after disaster strikes. It is the culmination of decades of experience of hundreds of women.

Keep it handy, be prepared and help those around you. Together it will be better.

If your home has not flooded but looks like it will:
* Get a time stamp app and take photos of every room in your house (including closets and pantries)
* Take photos of all your furniture and appliances, including a photo of the label with the model and serial numbers (this includes computers, vacuums, and small kitchen appliances - basically anything with a plug)
* Keep all important documents, insurance information, receipts for appliances, and important photos with you
* Put as many valuable items up in your attic or high in your closets
If your house has flooded:
* Cut off power to the house asap
* Contact your insurance company
* Contact FEMA
* Order dehumidifiers, box fans, face masks, and Microban/sprayer bottle online asap - these things will be very hard to find once clean up starts
* Get a time stamp app for your phone so you can document the damage for your insurance company. BEFORE entering your home, take photos of the water line around the outside of your house. Take photos of the water line in every room, including the garage, pantries, and closets.
* Keep a sample of flooring (1 square foot) from each room in the house so insurance gives you proper compensation for those materials
* Make a list of all appliances, furniture, and clothing that was damaged
* Look up videos on YouTube on how to quickly remove sheet rock. It will save you demo time and it will make things easier when your contractor reinstalls your walls
* Get license and insurance info from every contractor you talk to! Do not hire someone who is not licensed and insured. A good contractor will have this with them and will not hesitate to give proof of these things

By Amy Nielsen

Lately I have been struggling with deciding what to charge for my services. I have a unique set of certifications and degrees and am in the process of starting my Master’s degree. I teach several different programs all of which have suggested retail prices associated with them.

The program designers have determined what they think is a fair price for a teacher to charge for the materials, time, and effort put into presenting their classes. However, I live in an economically depressed, hard-working, rural community and those prices are not going to fly when measured against something like purchasing oil to heat the house.

Why am I struggling when I have clear guidelines to follow? Because I want my clients to be able to afford my services. However I have recently discovered this can be a two-edged sword. Let me explain.

I ask a lower price for my services in an effort to be affordable, but the perceptions is that either I am still a student and therefore not fully trained, or perhaps that my services are not worthy of more. How much is my attention worth to me and to them? How does one value time?

I am running a bit of an experiment tomorrow night when I offer my first workshop at my new space. I only advertised it by posting flyers on the front window and in the waiting room of the office I share. I posted that the class is free, but I also posted a suggested donation of ten dollars. So far I haven’t gotten any firm registrations but I am going to run the class as an Open House of sorts to show there is new activity in the building and hopefully build interest.

Many of the folks who teach similar kinds of classes and coaching do so on a specific rate scale that seems to be similar across the board in this area. There is a low and high cap of what people choose to charge. It differs by region and season a bit, but I think I have figured out the system. If I want to be on par with those folks who have it going on, I need to up my prices, but the population I want to work with may not be able to come up with that amount as easily.

The community is changing in a way it has not seen in a few years. I can see the new up and coming grass roots farmers and merchants digging in and pulling together in some very interesting coalitions that I want to be part of.  It’s going to take the next couple of years while we all bump through the next two winters before the big projects get fully operational. But if we can hang on and not disintegrate into our own hill town factions, we will survive to a bigger and better place.

I, of course, have to figure out how to not only make it through my Master’s academically, emotionally, and physically – it’s a partial residency course in Maryland and I live in New York – I also have to figure out how to come up with the remaining $1,500 not covered by loans each semester.

There in comes the need for financial abundance from my burgeoning business. Alas, it takes money to make money. And I don’t have enough time or money to make it happen immediately. So back to what to charge that is fair to my clientele, will pay honor to the level of education and learning I have already achieved, and help me meet my financial goals to further my education.

The hardest part of this whole discussion for me is learning to understand that asking for financial payment for my services isn’t dirty, underhanded, or somehow improper. I was raised to be a good girl and good girls don’t ask to be paid, we take what we are given. Hence the problem in the gender pay gap. Only bad girls ask for money. There I said it.

I have a distinct financial goal in mind now and I have to really think about the financial “gobdigookyness” that I have internalized as not something good girls do. Except that my mother was the ultimate in opposites for this, she was the CFO and the President of a multinational business for almost 20 years. She did one helluvah job at it too. I am absolutely conflicted as to how to go about solving this one for myself.

I am out here working for myself for a living, for the first time ever really. Even as an independent contractor in a previous career, I still was working for organizations with specific structures in place to deal with contractors. Now it’s just me and my client in a relationship. I have to figure out a fair wage for myself and a fair value for my time and the time of my client as well.

So I am back to thinking about how the value of my client equals the value of my time and somehow that equals the value I place in our relationship added to the time and effort I have spent educating myself to walk beside that client on a journey to a better self. The last piece of the equation has to be the financial restrictions people in this area currently live under.

Ugh, I hate math. Philosophical ethical math stinks even worse.

I have the gift of the next two years of my Master’s program to charge a lower yet still reasonable rate while I am in fact still a student, again. As the community grows and we see the benefits of the new opportunities in the area, I can raise my rates to be commensurate with the rising disposable income.

By Jenna Moede

I already told you all one of my secrets that I keep locked away - that I messed up my first go-round on my Master’s degree. Coming from the top of my class in high school and a Dean’s List student in college, it hurt, but I also learned how to choose a path that, this time, will help me reach my goals.

I realized that when it comes to choosing a degree, I didn’t have to see all my high school and college friends as competitors. Instead, they could help me and guide me.

Right away I rebuilt connections that I had let slip away. I needed the help and support of those that I’ve always had friendships with. Starting my master’s after they finished didn’t matter a bit to them, and it never should have mattered to me.

Next, I took the pressure off myself. I knew I wanted my Master’s and I didn’t want to put it off any longer, however, I had to train my brain to understand that researching and choosing a program that fit me didn’t mean I had put college off, it meant I wanted to do this the right way.

I always say if not now, when? But when it comes to this situation, you can’t rush the decision-making process. I’ve mentioned this before with choosing to start undergraduate studies as undeclared, but since graduate programs don’t require generals, you don’t have built in wayfinding time. Make your own but just make sure you’re not delaying in the name of research.

Next, I really thought about what I wanted to do. Hopefully you’ve already made the right decision for your undergraduate degree so you won’t have as much trouble with this as I did, but if you haven’t take your time to really find what you want to do, take this crucial step.

This time around I chose something based on firsthand knowledge and experience rather than something that I thought sounded okay. I know that I enjoy teaching English because I have done it for the past two years, and I know I enjoy writing because I have experience doing so.

If you lean toward something you haven’t had hands-on time with, I highly recommend job shadowing or trying to interview someone who has that “dream job” just to learn a little more about it. Choosing a Master’s means a huge commitment, so make sure you take all the precautions.

Next I took my goal and started to research it. I knew I had a lot of options and routes I could take so I narrowed them all down. I looked into job positions with each degree, licensing (if applicable) per state, and the projected growth rate and salary of each.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics became my best friend for finding information I felt I could rely on, and I felt better after researching exactly what positions I could go into after I attained any one degree.

I took it a step further on my own after finding a few positions that really interested me, and I researched those to make sure I didn’t miss anything if I pursued the degree I hoped would provide that opportunity.

Lastly, I compiled my notes and focused on a few graduate programs that I felt had a lot of potential to lead me where I wanted to go. That coupled with an attainable, reasonable and passion driven goal helped me in my search for the school that fit me the best.

I didn’t have an easy time getting here, and I know that I will hit bumps in the road this time too, but at least this time I feel like I put ample thought, reason and passion behind my decision.

I put myself in gear, did the research and made the decision without letting unnecessary time go by or extra delays. I had to find the balance between giving my decision thought without action and action without thought. 

The kids are heading back to school and you finally have the house to yourself. Peace and quiet all day and time to kick start your job search into high gear!

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation continues to host military and military spouse only job fairs across the nation every month. Employers at these fairs known the skills and assets that military spouses have and they are looking to hire, regardless of how long you will be stationed in the area.

Many of the employers are also national chains meaning spouses may have an opportunity to stay with the company as they PCS.

Check out this list of hiring fairs coming in September. Be sure to click on the link and register. Most fill up before the day of the fair. For a full list of hiring fairs in 2017, visit https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/events/hiringfairs

Aug. 30

New Orleans, La

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/new-orleans-hiring-fair

Sept. 6

Washington D.C.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/washington-dc-networking-reception-and-hiring-expo-washington-nationals

Sept. 12

Arlington, Texas

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/arlington-hiring-expo-texas-rangers-2

Sept. 14

Carlisle, Pa.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/carlisle-hiring-fair

Sept. 20

Austin, Texas

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/austin-hiring-fair-3

Sept. 25

Philadelphia, Pa.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/philadelphia-hiring-fair-2

Oct. 3

Camp Lejeune, N.C.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/camp-lejeune-transition-summit-0

Oct. 4

Kansas City, Mo.

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/camp-lejeune-transition-summit-0

By Amy Nielsen

I am exceptionally proud of myself and I thought I would share it with you all. I have been working very hard over last two years to complete a study at home correspondence course with a well-known herb school. It is an intense study and requires presence, forethought, and definite attention to intention to complete.

It seems easy on the outset. It’s only ten lessons long after all. Each lesson is packaged in a neat little fiftyish page booklet with a few simple herbal projects to complete and at most twenty questions to answer for homework. Homework is typed and submitted either snail mail or email. Homework is returned marked within a month of receipt. No sweat right?

Until you finish gathering the first lessons supplies and reading through the length of time required to complete the projects for the homework. Then you realize that several of the projects take four to six weeks to infuse. Others take even longer. Some items aren’t in season when you are ready to work the lesson.

This is no springtime wander through herbal simples and pretty teas. This is down and dirty anatomy and physiology and delving into understanding chemical properties of plants and how they interact. It is about herbal culture, healing, and legalities of plant medicine. Not to mention the societal discussions around plant ethics, plant based medicine, food as medicine, and plant based diets.

I know people who have been working to complete this for very close to if not just over the allotted three year timespan and longer. One thing I love about this school is that they understand life happens and that this course is a luxury for many who take it. So for formal study they allot three years to complete the course. That I am completing it in just under two years feels rather a bit of an accomplishment.

I originally set myself a goal of completing in one year. I knew it was ambitious, but I was also committed and had what I thought was a terrific plan. I was going to be taking the class as a devoted monthly four-hour study evening with a local herbalist and teacher.

It became apparent after our first meeting that several of the students in the class would have a hard time meeting up with the monthly class and we slowly devolved into not meeting at all when the teacher moved away. I continued to plug away at the course, working in fits and starts as the mood, time, and finances allowed.

As I worked my way through the lessons, with each homework assignment I physically popped into the mailbox, I felt more accomplished. I chose to start this course for myself. For me. Because I was interested in it. I wanted to know more about it and I love the gal who was teaching the class. So I went for it.

I could have stopped doing it at any time. I had many perfect reasons to stop and not pick it back up again. But not only was I hooked on the material in the class, I met the author of the course and was enamored with her. I wanted to know more about what made her tick because she is one of the most amazing forces of nature I have ever met. In fact all of the herbal grandmothers I have met are in their own way, just like their beloved plant allies – they are forces of nature.

I was called. Called not to be like them, but to understand them and in turn to find my own purpose and my own nature among theirs. As they will be the first to tell you, like our plant allies, every weed, tree, and fungus has a purpose. I just had to find my nature, learn my soil conditions, and then bloom where I was planted.

When I reached then passed the halfway point of the lessons, I realized I had a drive to finish it. A personal need to have that certificate in my background. Not only could I see clearly how to use this knowledge for my own self-interest, but I began to see how this certificate could help me shape my career path.

My studies began to take priority again when I reached lesson eight. Three more to go before I was done. Little did I know that lesson nine was a killer. My homework regularly topped ten typed pages. Lesson nine ended up being a monster at 26 pages long - so many that it was returned to me for extra postage.

After the ordeal of nine and the entirety of the process, lesson 10 was a simple, week-long process of reading, contemplating, and writing, with no formulation work at all. Somewhat anticlimactic after the whopper of lesson nine. But as I popped that little red flag on my mailbox up, I breathed an enormous sigh of satisfaction. I had done it.

Lesson eight was about when I learned the eclipse would happen across the U.S. I set our epic eclipse trip as my deadline for mailing in my final lesson. Even if that meant mailing it from our totality viewing spot twelve hours from home, typed while riding in the RV.

Next weekend I go to a big conference hosted by the school whose course I just completed. I will begin my master’s classes in this same field the following week. I hit my mark of completing the correspondence course before the conference, before my master’s program starts, and before the total eclipse of the sun.

Right this second I could not be in a better place to ritually begin a new me as I pass formally from one career and phase of life into the next, sitting in my RV one mile from the center of totality for the great American eclipse of 2017.