Alas, here we are—the final chapter of our milspouse marriage advice miniseries. (Don’t miss Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3). I’ve waited until the end to share my personal milspouse marriage advice, mainly because patience is a virtue (and as a milspouse, I always need an opportunity to practice that!).

If we based our ideas about marriage on the movies, we would undoubtedly be shocked to discover the stuff in our everyday married lives that never shows up on the big screen: squeezing the toothpaste tube from the middle instead of the end, the hazards of nearly “falling in” when going to the bathroom in the middle of the night because someone left the seat up, how the bread is never sealed with the twisty-tie but instead is spun and tucked back under… Yeah, not the romantic homecoming kissy-kissy moments we see in the cinema.