Household 6
Household 6
A Time for Thankfulness
Sometimes it’s easy to forget how many things we have to be thankful for when the hustle and bustle of life takes over, but these weeks leading up to the holidays give me pause.
Using Generosity for Sneaky Gratitude
It was a beautiful day a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I was making a choice that would impact my whole day.
I knew it would be good, but I couldn’t have known how long the ripple effect would last. Maybe I still don’t know for sure how my choice made an impact that day.
Recon Rendezvous: Our Thanksgiving Traditions
One of my favorite parts of the milspouse life is hearing other peoples’ stories. The stories of the good times, the hard times, the times of triumphs, the dreams, and the hopes for the future. This premise is the basis of our Recon Rendezvous series—the tips, tricks, and experiences that make this milspouse life worth it (and so much more).
Choosing Gratitude
In this military life, separation in the military is almost guaranteed. Between TDY, training, time in the field, deployments—the list goes on and on—our service members often have to take time away from their spouses and families. Often, we focus on that separation; some of us dwell on it, some of us try to ignore it, but it can still get at us despite our best efforts.
When our service member leaves, we’re faced with two choices: allow our emotions to take over, or try to look at the bright side. It never gets easier to have our loved ones gone, but we can try to see the good in it.
October and Autumn Celebrations
October is always a fun time of year for me. Within the last few years, I have started to consider the beginning of October the beginning of Halloween, rather than the holiday just being the last day of the month.
I know some people might find that silly, but I find that October, and Halloween in particular, means the start of fall—cooler days, warm drinks, and the family times and holidays that soon follow.
Never Stop Trying
More than half of 2017 is already over, and as I reflect on my New Year’s goals, I can honestly say that I wasn’t able to stick with any of them. You see, things never turn out the way we plan for them. Almost any milspouse can attest to that little life fact. And though I’ve faced many let downs, failures, obstacles, and trials this year, the one aspect of my life that I haven’t let go is the need to never stop trying.
The Mental Load
Finding time for yourself, especially when you’re the parent of young children, can sometimes be difficult. There’s laundry to be done, messes to be cleaned, and blogs to be written. Even at the end of the day, when the kids are in bed and you might have an hour to enjoy your favorite late-night television show or play a game, the list of things that still need to be done may still be weighing on your mind. This is what has become known as “the mental load.”
Getting a Head Start on the Holidays
As we near the end of August, many things are happening. School is starting again for many parents and students. Summer is starting to come to its end to bring cooler weather, and the year is quickly (more quickly than I can believe sometimes) nearing its end. Though all of these things are happening, for some people, the holidays are still a distant thought among the general everyday chaos.
Positive Footprints
We all want to leave positive footprints for our children to follow in, something they can carry forward with them in life. One footprint that seems to run through our military families is volunteering. Where there is a parent who volunteers, there tends to be a child who’s either in tow or volunteers themselves.
In a normal year, military installations will submit hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours. There are Volunteer of the Month, Quarter, and Year, and Service Member awards. Behind all of that, there are hours that are never submitted or recognized, but our children see them.