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Don’t let the good ones slip away.
It was a warm May morning on Kelley Hill, and people filtered in under the neatly placed canopies on Sledgehammer Field. I said some quick hellos and waved as I scanned the rows for my husband and our seats. A name card with “Mrs. Pirog” caught my eye, and I grabbed the program placed on Continue reading
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People who live in glass houses need Windex not stones.
It was a sunny morning in Fairbanks, and the entire neighborhood was outside soaking up the sun. Groups of moms hovered on the sidewalks, and chatted with cups of coffee in hand. The warm weather in Alaska did not stay long, so everyone welcomed the seasonal interloper called Summer. I was visiting a friend in Continue reading
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Headed to the Tongeren Antique Market? Make sure you catch a Kringloop!
Headed to the antique market in Tongeren, Belgium? Listed below are addresses for awesome thrift shops or Kringloops right across the border in the Netherlands. I became a Kringloop addict after visiting a friend who was stationed in the Netherlands. I love thrift shops, but I really love Kringloops. On my last trip to Tongeren, Continue reading
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The power of hello.
June 2002. I was a week past my due date, and the heat of a hot and humid Georgia summer was wearing me down to a sweaty and irritable mess. My husband was already at our new duty station in Columbia, South Carolina, and I was back in Columbus, Georgia with my parents. I had Continue reading
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On Memorial Day and every day.
Eleanor Roosevelt knew war intimately. She walked upon the bloated, unburied bodies of soldiers slaughtered in World War I. She flew in uninsulated military aircraft through combat airspace to Guam, the Philippines and 13 other islands to visit American troops. She walked hundreds of miles in hospital corridors, worked in emergency rooms and ate with Continue reading
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Don’t forget the fancy glasses.
My friends dropped me off after a happy hour that became a happy evening. I plopped down on a lawn chair in my parents’ backyard and took in the peaceful lull of a summer night. After graduating from Kansas State University I was back in Georgia living with my parents and working two jobs while Continue reading
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Hello motherhood, goodbye heart.
On the day I became a mother I lost my heart. It was placed in the care of a fussy pink bundle of joy with reddish hair and soon to be bright blue eyes. Before Ellie C. made her grand entrance two weeks early on a cold February night in Fairbanks, Alaska I thought I Continue reading
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To my fellow military spouses, thank you.
Military Spouse Appreciation Day is May 8th, and this Army spouse is thankful. Not necessarily for the day, but for the incredible women and men it honors. Thank you seems puny compared to the love, patience and guidance my fellow sisters (and brothers) have shown me over the years, but I have always believed a heartfelt Continue reading
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My Army family.
Last week a squirming toddler with a shy, sweet smile reminded me of the power of my extended Army family. Childcare had fallen through, and Lorelei was hanging with the big girls at a monthly board meeting. It was more of a bored meeting for little Miss L, and I could see her mom’s frustration Continue reading
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What is home?
It is almost time for the migration of moving trucks to descend upon military installations around the globe. Every summer, like clockwork, they roll into neighborhoods, load up the worldly possessions of military families, and leave behind a wake of broken hearts in the process. Watching the packers wrap heirlooms at warp speed, and hearing Continue reading
About Me
I’m momma to two college students who have improved my sarcasm and my Spotify. I’m an Army brat who is well traveled but geographically challenged. I believe wanderlust is real, kindness matters and age is relative.
Milly Magpie 