I met one of my new neighbors while out for a walk one morning. Well into her nineties, she was out working in her garden. I introduced myself and told her how much I admired her beautiful flowers, particularly...
Being a military kid is hard! You might not have a lot of choice in where you live or what you do. There are deployments, PCS moves, a loss of friends, a change in schools (sometimes mid-year), confusion ......
The first time I remember my dad being gone was during a year-long deployment to South Korea when I was in the second grade. Video calling software was not commonly available during that time, so my dad typically called...
It started with a boo-boo. She face-planted off a Costco bottle of laundry detergent. Blood oozed from her lip and tears poured from her eyes as she buried her face in my neck. At 15-months old, it was my...
I consider myself a well-seasoned military spouse. My salt and pepper roots are not just owed to genetics but also in part to having spent more than a decade married to a military man. From moving year after year...
People often ask me how I do it. How do I survive a deployment with two kids? How can I train for a marathon while my husband is gone? How do I spend quality time with two kids when...
Two years after my husband and I were married, we faced our first deployment. We didn't have any children yet, so it was just him and me. At the time, we were living in Chicago with no family nearby.
After...
My husband and I joke that when we got married, I owned four of our kids and he owned one, now together we own all five. Yes, we're a blended family, but we have the unusual pleasure of having...
I was a young college student when I met my husband. I didn’t have any experience with the military and was hesitant to dive headfirst into the relationship.
Fast forward that relationship a few years, and I had experienced a...
We all have certain memories and moments that we will never forget. I remember where I was on 9/11. I remember my wedding day and the days my children were born.
I also remember the day my husband was put...
In the words of Beyoncé, “All the single ladies, all the single ladies, now put your hands up!”
Except in our case, he liked it, he put a ring on it, and he reproduced it.
Then duty called. And he was...
Deployment really brings out the best in us . . . said no military spouse ever.
I don’t know about you, but when my husband deployed for the first time this past year, I came face to face with all...