What is your favorite season to take a walk? I have two dogs, so each and every day is a good day for a walk in their world. We walk in the sun, heat, wind, snow, and only if I force them, in the rain. Bladders might explode if they could avoid rain.  Don’t get me wrong, I love walking my dogs. They won’t let me say, “I’m too tired,” or “I want to finish this project.” They pester me until we finish our walk. We rarely vary our route because they enjoy sniffing the other dogs in the neighborhood. However, occasionally, I get my creative juices flowing, and we go a different route. My moth ..read more

For the past few months, there has been worldwide intrigue about Catherine, Princess of Wales. Where was she? Was she unwell? What was wrong? Never mind the fact that the official statement was that she underwent planned surgery and would be returning to the public eye after Easter, the lack of information and transparency about the future Queen allowed serious questions to abound. In an apparent effort to quell the few rumblings of concern, Kensington Palace released a photo of the mother of three with her children to celebrate Mother’s Day in the UK. But in a shocking twist, reputable news a ..read more

April 1st is a day each year that pranksters and jokester look forward to stirring the pot with gags and tricks that generate genuine laughter. There is satisfaction in pulling one over on someone that can put a little pep in your step. The jests are simple fun that, for the most part, avoid causing harm to the no-so-lucky one on the other end of the joke. A joke amongst friends about an all-expenses-paid trip together or a prank like rubber banding the kitchen sink sprayer by the kids is good for a giggle.  Before the internet, you had to tell a joke or set a prank in real life to ‘get ..read more

Michelle Bowler Loss is a profound experience that touches us all at different points in our lives. But what happens when you are part of the military community, and the normal emotional upheaval is compounded by the rigors of service life? The story I’m sharing today is one that resonates deeply with military spouses navigating the complexities of loss on top of constant PCSs, deployments, and separation. Almost three years ago our son, James, was stillborn. It was unexpected, and in true military fashion, I found out his heart had stopped beating while my husband was on a state-side Covid mi ..read more

By Crystal Bettenhaus-Bebulka As a military spouse of nearly two decades, I’ve grown weary of a word that seems to permeate every conversation about our unique challenges: resilience. While well-intentioned, this term often conveys that Military Spouses must meet a certain survival standard. It inadvertently creates a false narrative, leaving many feeling inadequate for the demanding, heartbreaking, and unpaid job as a Military Spouse.  Military support organizations often emphasize “building resilience” in military families, addressing challenges with deployments and reint ..read more

By Crystal Bettenhausen-Bubulka  In military spouse life, there comes a moment when we need to challenge our perspectives, we need to hear through a new lens. The idea of listening through something you look through might seem perplexing, I shared the same skepticism when I first encountered this saying. A seasoned mentor in my life, a Vietnam Veteran and Professor, presented it to me. This notion prompted me to reflect on how, as military spouses, we often undermine our well-being by peering through a cloudy lens.  For nearly two decades, I’ve been fortunate to build ..read more

It is March and we are getting ready to kick off Spring Break season! When my husband and I were stationed in Florida, Spring Break meant a lot of college students swarming the beach and ridiculous posts on Facebook by the local police about the silly things that happen during the week. Spring Break looks a little bit different for us these days. We now have three (almost four!) children and we have discovered a love for seeing everything our country has to offer. In the last six years we have come up with some tips, through much trial and error, for traveling with little ones, to make the tri ..read more

In February, the Supreme Court of the state of Alabama made a decision that will shape the future of how families are created – in Alabama and perhaps around the country. If you happened to have missed the news, the short version is that several families in Alabama had their frozen embryos destroyed when a hospital patient let themselves into the cryogenic nursery where the embryos were stored. The families sued the hospital under the Alabama Wrongful Death of a Minor Act and the Alabama Supreme Court decision was, “the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children regardless of ..read more

Watch this special interview in our entrepreneurship series Milspouse Moguls – on YouTube here or listen to the podcast here. Cece Meadows is the Founder and CEO of Prados Beauty. She is a proud Xicana and Indigena (Yoeme) who works to bring awareness, amplification and collaboration with other Native and Indigenous artists through cosmetics. Join Moni and CeCe for most beautiful, authentic conversation about finding your “why” in the world and never giving up until you achieve your goals. They talk about the gift of therapy, how happiness may just save your life, and how much power there can ..read more

Life in the military can be a bit of a challenge, mixed with a lot of excitement. As my children graduated high school, I wondered what I wanted to do next. A friend recommended applying for the Military Spouse Fellowship through the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE). This fellowship would allow me to become an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC). My husband’s orders stated we would be at our duty station for another year, so the timing seemed perfect. After being selected for the program, we received orders to report to a different time zone about the time t ..read more