A Conversation About PCSing With Kids and Pets

A Conversation About PCSing With Kids and Pets

THEE Conversation Starters of MilSpouse Conversations had a REAL conversation about their experience PCSing with kids and pets. This diverse panel of military spouses bring their PCSing experiences to the table from PCSing while pregnant to preparing for an OCONUS move while leaving their college-age child behind. And oh, we can't forget about surviving a DITY with a crying toddler who didn't want the sun to follow him. 🤣 Is there one way to PCS? No Where do I even begin to prepare for my upcoming PCS? Your reason for staying or moving with your military member is a personal…
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How To Be The Perfect Military Spouse

How To Be The Perfect Military Spouse

Being a perfect military spouse isn't about knowing every acronym associated with the military or recognizing every insignia on a military member's uniform. It isn't even about volunteering, attending or participating in every function for your spouse's command. But being the PERFECT Military Spouse is about YOU and your military member. Thee Conversation Starters share some of their best tips to help you. Don't forget about YOU Being the PERFECT anything is like beauty. It's all in the eye of the beholder. But throughout my 20 years as a military spouse, these tips have served me and my family well.…
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A Stress-Free Holiday for the Military Spouse

A Stress-Free Holiday for the Military Spouse

The holidays. They are a time for coming together and giving thanks for all the blessings we have. They are a time for us to gather with family and friends and share in the many traditions that accompany this magical time of year. But what happens when the point of it all gets lost in the stress and the chaos that often comes before the celebrations? When we lose ourselves and the meaning of the holidays because of this impossible expectation for everything to be perfect?  As military spouses, the holidays often mean either going back home to spend time…
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Where Are You Originally From?

Where Are You Originally From?

Where are you originally from? I have been asked many times by the non-hispanic community, “Where are you originally from?” If I answer with a state I am quickly interrupted by, “No, ORIGINALLY like what country are you from?” If you can picture the attitude-driven phrase “excuse me” as a facial expression, that’s exactly what my face looked like. I of course respond with, “The United States just like you.” It baffles me anytime I am asked that question and it turns out by one look people either assume I am from Mexico or am Native American. Personally, I think…
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All About Little, Old Me

All About Little, Old Me

Short, little, petite, itty-bitty, small, pint-sized, sprite, tiny. My mom promised me I’d be at least 5’4. Surely, she believed, I’d be a good mix of both her and my father and end up right in the middle. Besides, her brother was tall, and her mother-in-law was tall.  So, there was no doubt, that some of those genes would rub off on me, right? Wrong.  As a kid, I was an average size, the average being that everyone else around me was the same size I was. In fact, there were maybe two girls in my classes in grade school…
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5 Tips For Spending the Holidays Away From Family

5 Tips For Spending the Holidays Away From Family

With the holiday season ahead of us once again, you are probably making your plans. Many will be traveling, either back home, or to the in-law’s place. But many people either choose to stay home or are unable to travel back home to spend the holidays with family. This can be hard. You may have grown up always going to grandma’s house for the holidays, or you normally switch off between you and your spouse’s family, and this happens to be your year. However, this year, you need to stay home. Maybe your spouse is deployed and the idea of…
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The Crisis We Don’t Talk About

The Crisis We Don’t Talk About

There is something about getting older, about reaching the middle part of life. It’s like an irrevocable feeling of the passage of time and the knowledge that every decision that one has made in life has brought them to this point in time, for better or for worse. There is this singular moment in time when the question arises: “Am I happy with my life?” For many people, this question comes during a passing moment maybe at the office or on a ride to work. Or maybe the thought occurs during a dinner party or social engagement where the hosts…
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4 Ways To Stay Unique As A Military Spouse

4 Ways To Stay Unique As A Military Spouse

This is your first duty station, and you are still trying to figure things out. You are now a military spouse, but what does that mean and does that mean you have to give up yourself? How can you stay unique as a milspouse? Here are some ideas!  Don’t give up your hobbies We live busy lives and sometimes that means we give up our own hobbies to get it all done. Don’t do that. Figure out how to keep doing them.  Each of us has things we like to do for fun. From reading to hiking to cooking a…
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Things I Have Learned In Preparing For Military Retirement

Things I Have Learned In Preparing For Military Retirement

How do you process something for which you have very little context, knowledge, or understanding? I have had to keep asking questions and trying to build on my fund of knowledge, but some days my brain doesn’t want to cooperate. For a little background, The Huz and I have been married for 29 years (in October), and together for 30 years. We met when I was a college senior and he was a high school senior. We married when he was 19, and had our first child when he was 20. He is a Marine Corps brat, and originally attempted…
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Intimacy Talk with Courtney Boyer – Relationship Coach & Sexuality Educator

Intimacy Talk with Courtney Boyer – Relationship Coach & Sexuality Educator

Let's get down to it! INTIMACY Many of us think of S E X when we hear the word intimacy. But it's so much more. We had a conversation with Courtney Boyer, owner of Stepping Stones Coaching who breaks it all down for us. https://youtu.be/o0X1qS__IcE A Little about Courtney Courtney earned a B.A. in political studies from Whitworth University. During her senior year, she realized she had a passion for sexual health and education so she went and earned a Masters in Education in Human Sexuality, became a Certified Sexuality Educator, and worked as a sexuality educator in Indianapolis, Indiana. She…
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