military spouse

You Always Remember Your First Military Home

You Always Remember Your First Military Home

It’s been 13 years since I got on an airplane with my 18-month-old son, and really started our military journey. My husband had left for Germany 4.5 months before, and we were finally joining him. And while I had technically been an Army Wife for the last 4.5 months, this trip would open the gate to my first experience in Army living. While I had grown up between two military bases, and I knew kids whose parents served, the military had never been my world. And now the military was very much my world, and I was nervous. How could …

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6 Things You Should Remember When You Are Struggling With Military Life

When You Are Struggling With Military Life

Sometimes, when my husband is gone, or even if he is home, the stress overwhelms me. I find myself in a place I don’t want to be in. There is too much going on, too much to think about, and my emotions are all over the place. I end up in a bit of a funk and feel like I am on the struggle bus. But… In those times, there are things I have to tell myself, things I have to remind myself of, and doing so puts me in a much better place. If you have ever felt like …

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When Your Spouse Has CQ, In GIFs

When Your Spouse Has CQ, In GIFs

They come home from work, you are super excited about the upcoming weekend. You can’t wait for some family time, a break from the kids, and time with your spouse. Only…when they get home, they let you know, they have CQ this next weekend. via GIPHY Crap, now you will be spending a lot of the weekend without them, and they will be stuck at the CQ desk for 24 hours. CQ is a thing some service members have to do and it isn’t very fun. CQ stands for “Change of Quarters” and is 24-hour duty, where they will have …

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7 Tips to Enjoy Your First FRG Meeting

7 Tips to Enjoy Your First FRG Meeting

Yes, FRG meetings. Some people love them, some people hate them. But either way, FRG meetings are such a good thing to have, even if they have issues being implemented. Even if certain FRGs are not working as well as they could be. FRG stands for “Family Readiness Group” and you can find them in the Army, the Army Reserves, and the Army National Guard. The Navy also calls them the FRG. The Air Force has their Key Spouse Program, the Marine Corps has their Family Readiness Program, and the Coast Guard has their Work-Life Program which all try to …

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The Six Degrees of Separation of Military Spouse Friendships

The Six Degrees of Separation of Military Spouse Friendships

A friend and I were talking the other day about how we had met through a mutual friend, and how there really does seem to be six degrees of separation of military spouse friendships within the military community. When you meet someone new, they might also know someone you know. There have been so many times when this has happened to me. I meet someone new, we add each other on Facebook, and I learn that they are friends with someone I already know. A friend from Germany might be stationed near a friend I met through blogging. A former …

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Deployments Never Truly Go Away

Deployments Never Truly Go Away

A Military spouse is never going to forget how hard it was to let their spouse go, how lonely the nights were or, how happy they were when they finally came home. It’s been years since the first time my husband deployed, over a decade ago. But that deployment changed my life forever, as it changed the lives of so many of my military spouse friends. That deployment changed my husband and all of the men he served with. That deployment still comes up in my mind, and I always think about those who lost so much during those 15 …

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The Milspouse Guide to Spring Cleaning

The Milspouse Guide to Spring Cleaning

Spring is right around the corner, and a time to clean out our homes, and get things a little more organized. Maybe you are going to be PCSing this next year, or may you are not going to moving anytime soon, but either way, working on your home is a good thing. Here are some fun tips to help you with your spring cleaning: Remove extra PCS stickers, you know you still have some from your last move. Unless you want to make a PCS sticker ornament. Do you really need to keep those curtains? You haven’t used them in …

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9 Things You Wish Were True About Military Life

9 Things You Wish Were True About Military Life

Military life can be a crazy ride. From deployments to PCSing every few years, this life isn’t without its struggles. Some days we wish we had a magic wand to make everything a little easier. So let’s have some fun…here are 9 things you wish were true about military life: That every deployment came with a nanny Let’s face it, us military spouses can get burned out really quickly when it comes to solo parenting. What if every military family received a nanny with deployment orders? That would make life so much easier! That you could use a “Get out …

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To the Burned Out Solo Parent

To the Burned Out Solo Parent

It’s almost bedtime, almost. You start your bedtime routine at 6:30 on the dot and if all goes well, the kids will be alseep by 7:30, or 8:30, usually by 9, but sometimes even as late as 10:00. It just depends. As your spouse is deployed at the moment, it really doesn’t matter how long bedtime takes, it will still be 100% on you to get those kids to bed. There will be no trading off nights, no asking for help, no relief if you had a burned out day and need to just chill by yourself for a bit. …

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How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day if Your Spouse is Deployed

How do you like to celebrate Valentine's Day when your spouse is deployed?

It’s time for Valentine’s Day! The holiday all about love. The one where you feel the pressure to buy your spouse candy chocolates, or flowers, or teddy bears, and make plans to go out to eat on the most crowded night of the year. Super fun right? Or not… Maybe you think the whole thing is silly. A holiday made up by Hallmark to get spouses to buy cards for each other, and make more money. And with the lack of candy hearts this year, is Valentine’s Day even worth worrying about? (PS I did find some at Target a …

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