Did you know… Mission: Milspouse published its 3000th blog post in 2023 and is still growing!
Socials, Balls, and Ceremonies, Oh My!
The weather is warming, days are longer, birds are singing, and new duty stations are the talk on every installation!
In the Midst of Chaos: Rapid Deployments
“Letting you know… I’m deploying on Friday.”
This was the text I received one morning as I was getting ready to begin my day. My friend, Catherine, along with so many others, would be deploying somewhere overseas for who knows how long and doing who knows what.
Her text was one of many. By the end of the first week, I was on a roller coaster of “guess what?” I saw couples rushing to the PX to pick out wedding bands. Another friend of mine bought a very early birthday cake for her daughter. My little ones were coming home from school sharing their sadness with me, almost daily, about the news of yet another friend gone.
Deployments have a way of moving families around the globe.
Find Your Strength at the InDependent Wellness Summit
Many of us headed into 2020 with some form of personal growth on our minds. Maybe you want to eat better and work out more. Maybe you want to find constructive ways to de-stress and learn how to say “no” more often. Maybe you want to strengthen your relationship with your spouse and kids.
And maybe, you didn’t make any resolutions at all, but find yourself floundering in this military life. This isn’t an easy journey, and we often find ourselves pouring a lot of energy into our service members and children.
5 Ways To Keep Your Marriage Army Strong
Slowly, I peeked out through my fingers that covered my eyes. I felt the wind blow hard against my face. My legs dangled from my body, with the ocean 1200 feet below. The harness was tightly secured around my body, but I felt anything but secure. My adventure-seeking boyfriend was strapped next to me, completely relaxed with a big smile on his face, but I was too busy fighting flashbacks from my last parasailing adventure.
See, I was traumatized from the last time I parasailed when I was 15 years old. All was going well during that ride until the driver of the boat slowed down and decided to dip me down into the water. Seems fun, right? Well, little did he know that I was being submerged into a school of jellyfish! I started waving and flailing like a crazy woman, trying to signal to lift me back up, but he thought I was just having a great time and waved back. Thanks, Mr. Boat driver, for the bazillion jellyfish stings! Thus, I vowed to never parasail again.
9 Details that Boost Your Home’s Resale Value
As military families on the move, we focus a lot on personal wish lists when we’re looking to buy our next home. Since we move around a lot (like, a lot, a lot), we have the opportunity to try out a ton of different properties and discover all the things we want in a home and all the things we don’t. Then, if we decide to buy a home at our next duty station, we look for one that encompasses as many of the right things as possible.
Thoughts from a Guardsman Spouse
We hear it all the time. “It’s only once a month! It’s not that big of a deal!”
Truth is, it really is a big deal. Because those weekends are the worst.
Those are the weekends that all the ballgames, family commitments, and kids getting sick will happen.
Those are the weekends when the kids will throw every ‘tude known to man both at you and at each other.
Those are the weekends that all Hades breaks loose everywhere. Oh! And something always breaks!
Those are the weekends you question yourself the most.
Don’t Open an Account: Open a Financial Dialogue
For many military families, financial awareness and wellness don’t pose a problem; all parties are on the same page when it comes to family finances.
But for many, a lack of financial awareness and wellness creates not only a financial crisis, but can cause a seismic rift between partners.
There are plenty of warning signs, but too often one or both partners play the role of the proverbial ostrich with his head in the sand . . . they just ignore the warnings and keep spending full speed ahead.
If you are worrying about bills, getting out of debt, living paycheck to paycheck, and not having enough money to cover bills, or if you don’t know the total amount of debt owed by your family, or the interest that’s being paid on that debt, there’s probably a problem.
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