HOW I MADE PEACE WITH MY FAMILY OF ORIGIN

It wasn't until I was able to assist my family with their medical needs and with getting an assistant living for my father to live in was I able to come to peace with the abuse they showered on me while I was a child. This didn't take place until after my husband retired from his job in New York and we moved to Florida in 2000. Noticing the grief my father experienced after the deaths of my mother and my sister in the year 2004 and losing his home in a move to an assisted living created much compassion in me. I felt it must have been very difficult for this former military officer to have to give up his home, lose his wife and youngest daughter to alcoholism and drugs, and then move to a residential living for seniors. Also, my helping my mother after she moved to two nursing homes before she passed away encouraged me to forgive her as well. She had always been an independent woman, taking care of my sister and me while my father served overseas and went to other states for combat training. His tour overseas in Iran lasted for two full years and sometimes she barely had enough monies to pay for our groceries since she depended on him for support checks. I have also forgiven my sister for all the money she stole from my parents' bank accounts to buy drugs, fancy clothes,  and take vacations with. My sister, Marilyn, had struggled paying bills for years while she was married to her husband, Steve, who couldn't hold a job for more than two years. She probably thought she had a right to steal since her husband and her never took a vacation in the 20 years they were married. I say that tongue in cheek, of course, but it's possibly the reason why. Yet I'll never know. The past is the past and can't be changed. We just have to accept things for what they are.

My mother, sister Marilyn and myself (in the red dress) in 1948, the year my sister was born

My parents in 1954

AUTHOR SPEAKS TO RETIRED MILITARY GENTLEMEN

On April 4th, at noon, I will be giving a talk to some retired military gentlemen and local businessmen in the Daytona Beach area regarding my memoir, Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat. Hopefully, there will be a good turnout then.

BOOK SIGNING ON SATURDAY, MARCH 11

I will be having a book signing for my memoir, Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat from 11 am to 2 pm at the Renewals Book Shop in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. There will be refreshments served.

AUTHOR GIVING A BOOK SIGNING AT RENEWALS BOOK STORE, WASHINGTON STREET, NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA

I am giving a book signing for my book, Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat, on Saturday, March 11th, from 11 am to 2 pm at the Renewals Book Store in New Smyrna.

BARBARA FIFIELD GIVING TALK TO VETERANS' ASSOCIATION

On Monday, February 27th at 2 pm, the author will be giving a talk regarding her book, Interrupted Journeys: A Memoir of an Army Brat, to the Father Charles Waters Post 1962 of the Catholic War Veterans at the Emory L. Bennett Veterans Nursing Home on Mason Avenue in Daytona Beach. She will discuss memories of her childhood as an army brat in the service and living in Germany, Japan, and different States of the USA.

ARMY KIDS HAVE MANY FRIENDS

A positive outcome from the many travels and moves a military family makes are the many friends which family members make. Sometimes military children are almost forced to make friends due to having lost the friends they had during the last move. I, for example, learned to make friends easily and to this day, I make friends easily with strangers due to my many changes in addresses, states and countries which I soon grew used to. Below is a picture of my sister, Marilyn and myself with Jimmy McGuiness, a kid who lived across the street from us in Heidelberg, Germany. Jimmy's dad was a lieutenant colonel, my father, a major. Jimmy often joked with me about his father being higher ranked than mine, even if by only one grade.

ALCOHOL FACTORING IN FAMILY DYNAMICS IN THE MILITARY

Many military families suffer from the huge presence of alcohol in their families. Much drinking takes place due to the stresses of the military style of life because of frequent relocations, usually every year or two, and adjusting to different cultures wherever the family lives. New languages, climates, friends, schools, etc., impact the families' lifestyles. I know in my own family where my father was a major in the army this was so. My mother had to raise my sister and me by herself while Dad was undergoing training in different states or overseas for up to two years. She had to manage with one income as most women didn't work in the fifties. Because she often didn't have enough money to pay the bills as she depended on Dad to mail her money, we often went without even though he was an officer. When he was in Iran for two years, for example, she wrote him a letter in desperation once over this splitting of his income, and officers got paid less back in those days than they do now. also, officers' wives weren't supposed to work back then as it was a cultural thing for them not to. Today, officers get paid more;however, there are additional problems with the greater use of psychoactive medications and prevalence of street drugs in our culture, mostly used by teenagers. Today's military families face even greater stresses. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq really haven't helped the matter, any! With more fighting women and men being stationed overseas, I perceive even more problems with alcohol and drugs than before. Much of this, of course, has been hushed by the military in order to maintain respect for our fighting men and women overseas. The sign of modern times.