Friendship

I am not naturally a "cool mom." Which is mostly OK with me. But I’d like to think I’m getting a little cooler hanging out with you. I am by nature a little more anxious than I’d like to be. I’m...

“My daughter told me that the other girls don’t play with her, is that true?” I asked my kid’s kindergarten teacher this past October. I asked to verify what my daughter had been telling me all week. It’s not that...

“We need to remember what's important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn't matter, but work is third.” –Leslie Knope I often say that the best thing to come out of my husband’s military career is the friendships...

I did not grow up in a military family. We moved two blocks when I was six years old, and my parents still live in that house. I grew up in a community of married high school sweethearts, and...

Making friends is hard. Building meaningful relationships is harder. Sometimes it even feels impossible; but it's not. We've all been the new person at some point in our lives. We've been the only one in the room who doesn't know...

My mother and I were never close. My older brother and I grew up in a turbulent household. We moved frequently and often woke to shouts and the sound of things breaking. Many nights, we were shuttled into the car,...

Have you ever had a friend announce she was moving and - within three weeks - she was gone? Have you ever had your spouse deploy with 24 hours notice? Have you ever left a unit feeling like you didn’t...

Let me start off by saying, any spouse who supports his or her service member in any branch of service - I salute you (Wait, can I do that?)! If you are one of the lovely women or men who...

These days, the first thing anyone asks me is, “Are you ready for the move?” We’re PCSing in six weeks. I should be deep in preparations--cleaning, decluttering, saying goodbye. But the truth is, I’m hardly thinking about it. That isn’t to...

The funny thing about a bruise: Sometimes you can't see a bruise, but you can feel it. Other times it's big and ugly and purple. Caused by trauma, these bruises may last a little or a long time. As...

Military families make up less than 0.5 percent of the American population. Though we have been at war since 9/11, few Americans have served in the military or have a direct link to it. There is a large gap between civilians...

I’m fine. Everything is fine. We are fine. How often do we repeat these sentences? More importantly, how often are they accurate and honest? In our February book club pick, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, we meet a woman who...