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Today is Memorial Day! Today?
Some of you who are calendar watchers might be saying, “Star, you’re VERY confused.” Today is Friday.
T. G. I. Friday!
You say, “Memorial Day is the last Monday in May.”
To which I say, “Memorial Day is the day we remember and honor military personnel who died in service to their country. Shouldn’t that be every day?” Continue reading
Here in the Crooks household we use the dry erase board for everything. It’s how we plan our days, our grocery lists, and our appointments. So it wasn’t anything out of the normal routine for my husband to jot down his thoughts and his “to do list” while preparing for his upcoming deployment …. There was one thing, and I noticed it the minute I walked by the board, which stood out. “O-Bit Write-Up.” Perhaps he thought if he abbreviated it that I wouldn’t catch that he had put on his to do list a reminder to write his obituary. If so, it didn’t work. I stood in front of the dry erase board and cried. Continue reading
Posted in Worth Joining For, Worth Staying For
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I recently sat around a table with a group of other military spouses, drinking coffee and talking, talking, talking. All long-term spouses from a number of different services, we’ve spent years researching, writing and speaking about and to military families, sharing resources. We’ve all known about each other, read each other’s columns, articles and books. We’ve corresponded by email. A few of us have met in person before. This was the first time we all sat at one table. Continue reading
You Know You’re A Parent of Someone in the Military When… you swell in pride when accompanied by your son or daughter in uniform.
Books bring great joy to me. My family remembers me spending whole days in the library curled in a corner attacking the shelves one book at a time. I was known for hiding out in my room while the neighborhood kids or cousins played in the yard or other rooms with the dolls and toys. Before military life, books are what opened the world to me, so I could see how others lived, loved, and learned. (I am, mostly, a non-fiction girl!) Continue reading
Posted in On The Inside: Family
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April is #796. Month of the Military Child. What an amazing idea to celebrate #438. Military kids, no matter the Service, embracing the positive parts of
change—what an incredible life lesson to learn so young! This special celebration is a legacy of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and was established to underscore the important role children play in the Armed Forces community. Continue reading
I recently offered to show a group of local women how to use weights at the gym, women in their 50’s and 60’s. I was shocked to hear how many of them had never stepped inside a gym, at least not since high school in some cases and not ever for others. And none of them had used weights before.
I realize that without the Army, that might have been me.
Continue reading
I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the effort to drive all the way into downtown DC to go to a military spouse’s luncheon because I really didn’t know anyone except for one person who encouraged me to go. But I knew what I needed to do… engage my “speed friending” skills that I have nearly perfected after all these years of being a military spouse. Continue reading
This post is the result of a great question posed to me this week while being prepped for an interview. While I’m pleased with my base reply, I encourage everyone to think of their own answers and share them here. The question is about how you make your military life easier for you. We’d all like to know your thoughts and hope that by sharing we can learn from each other.
The question ::
What are three things a military family can do right now to make their life easier (maybe one for the Service member, one for the spouse, and one for the kids)? Continue reading
I think it’s safe to say that we all have something in common. We stay living this life because we have gleaned from our service – pride, paycheck, health benefits, and friendships. That gave me extreme comfort this past November when we published 1001 Things to Love about Military Life. However, I don’t think that is all that this life is about. To me, there are many more little things to love. I find those mostly when I am tuned into WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. Here’s my personal example:
#324. Free access to some of the most amazing fitness centers in the world—and the inspiration of all those fit Service members working out there
In the months leading up to the book we didn’t do much but focus solely on the book and meeting deadlines. In all of the late nights and crazy email sessions I somehow lost track of me. I didn’t realize it at the time; my nose was to the grind. Continue reading