Ever have one of those days where you say or think to yourself, "why do I even bother?" Well, in the last few months that's all I ever seem to be thinking. It just seems, no matter how far I 'think' I've gotten ahead, I'm actually further behind. Kinda depressing really.
A few months ago, I visited one of the facilitators at the MFRC (Military Family Resource Centre) to find out if the coffee group that I helped developed last November would still be running, only to be told, "No. The Centre has to do "outreach" to the outlaying areas of the City, but maybe there might be coffee on Base maybe every two months." This in itself, doesn't do every much for the people who live on Base who don't know the outer areas of the City causing even more of an isolation issue for me, since I've been in Ottawa since August '16 and I've gotten lost twice going towards downtown looking for the main Cenotaph near Parliament (never mind the outskirts of town).
When I brought up my concerns, I was redirected to the facilitator's surpervisor and explained that 1. the fee for childcare is outlandish $15/hr for '1 child' - yet somehow a month's fee works out to be $2200 a month (causal care is $35 for 2 hours). 2. instead of hiring a catering company for their daycare, maybe hire a military spouse or retired member (or their spouse) to cook and provide snacks. 3. Spots in the daycare on Base are supposed to be for the families that live on Base, not the Civilian populations that lives nowhere near. All of which the response was, "Ontario is a heavily regulated place that needs paperwork and food has to be catered in case a child gets sick." (but no mention of daycare spots for military families). I mentioned that the MFRC in Nova Scotia, had 2 main sites and satellite locations for families that do not live in the Halifax/Dartmouth locations and that programs aren't being taken away from those who need it.
And yet, with all this, I'm still muddling through. I've been repeatedly asked why I haven't been to the new coffee group and it's rotating locations and I always respond that I don't know where these places are and the times listed are inconvenient, since my 2 of my 4 kids are bus students and someone (mostly me) has to meet them when the bus shows up (as mentioned in my intro post, I have five kids, but four are here with us in Ottawa). My oldest child here goes to adult high school via public transit and I still have my 3 year old son with me. He isn't a burden, but when a service is supposed to be provided (as advertised for those of us living on Base) and they're not it's a little frustrating. I mean, $2200 that is a complete month's pay. I don't work outside the home - not really in a position to get a part-time job and if I did, that pay wouldn't be able to added to the household funds, it would be for the childcare and at the current rate of minimum wage still isn't enough.
So here, I sit in my Q (pmq), feeling isolated and alone. Funny, if I were still back home in Halifax, it wouldn't be so bad. I could ask my mother (granted she's not perfect) to help with watching the younger minions. Whereas here, the nearest relation is 1.5 hours away in City limits and both work. My in-laws live almost a 4 hour drive in Trenton, so yeah.... so much for that.
