One of my most vivid memories of military life was during a time when I was a military girlfriend. Nearing our thirties, my boyfriend and I had been together for several years already. In the beginning we were long distance, and after almost two years together, I moved from the Midwest to Coastal North Carolina to be with him. It was [...]
The Secret Life of Military Spouses and Their Curtains
Every military spouse I know has one. It’s some sort of marked box or storage bin; usually shoved in the back corner of a closet. Sometimes the lid closes nicely. Sometimes it’s crammed so full that we have to stack other boxes on top to keep it closed. This box is filled with curtains. And it is more than just something that takes up [...]
To My Military Spouse Friends, You’ll Never Know…
As we prepared for our final hours in Okinawa, my husband and I packed up our loaner van with five ginormous suitcases, two strollers, two carry-ons, one diaper bag, one camera bag...and two kids (can't forget the kids). I hopped in the way back with a cup of coffee that tasted a lot more like burnt toast than actual coffee. The kids [...]
The Essential List of Military Care Package Do’s and Don’ts
Inside: Learn the best ways to decorate a care package, how to get free care package materials, what and what not to send in a military care package. Plus, see our top puns and themes for care packages. This post contains affiliate links as part of the Amazon affiliates program, which means if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to [...]
21 Best Deployment Quotes for Military Spouses and Significant Others
Inside: Deployment quotes for military spouses and significant others that will make your heart skip a beat. They're the perfect set of military wife quotes to inspire you during the ups and downs of deployment. I remember the first deployment goodbye after I fell in love with a service member. Painful doesn't even begin to describe [...]
9 Ways Military Spouse Friendships Are Exactly Like Dating
When we moved to our second duty station, I had one baby and was soon pregnant with our next. I quit my job when we PCS’d and wasn’t able to work at the new location. With my husband’s next deployment looming over our heads, I started to do one thing very well...panic. I didn’t know anyone in town. Who could I talk to or hang out with [...]
15 Hilarious Stages of Military Spouse Friendship Explained in GIFs
To outsiders, military spouse friendship may seem like a run of the mill friendship. But the truth is you spend forever looking for a new best friend, then you fall hard and fast, and then—as happens with any tragedy—you are ripped apart by PCS orders and spend the rest of your lives hoping you’ll land in the same duty [...]
The Emotional, Stressful and Exhausting Reality of a PCS Move
The longer we are active duty military, the more quickly and aptly I’m able to self-diagnose and articulate the funk I’m in. What it is this time, is something I have recently described as the Post-PCS Crash, also known as Complete Depletion. There is a process to arriving at this state of being, so I’ll explain. For the few weeks [...]
The Pain of Saying Goodbye to Your Military Spouse Tribe
A huge thank you to Kellie Artis is the Director of Content for MILLIE for contributing this post. Who’s guilty of mentally checking out as soon as you get PCS orders? One could hardly blame us. In the military community, our friend-turnover rate is high, and our friend-courting phase is typically very short. Think about it: If you [...]
47 Things No One Tells You About Being a Military Wife
She turned her head towards me and uttered the words I dreaded most, “You knew what you were getting into right?” I always hate getting asked this question because, in a way, I did know what military life would be like--frequent moves, separations and the overall feeling that life is a like a revolving door. But at the same time, I [...]