This week is both a testament and a challenge to staying the course when it comes to our dreams.  For the vast majority of our dreams, we will see them come true as long as we never stop fighting for them.  If it comes down to a battle of resilience, then I will win against the world when it comes to my dreams.  That said, staying in the game when things get tough can be difficult.

My family just came by from a dream-come-true cruise on the Princess cruise line. We traveled to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. But the cruise was just the vessel for my dream to come true. We took this trip so that I could spend a week with three of my favorite authors and their families.

If we're talking about passports, then we are most likely talking about airports. So, let’s explore the ins and outs of airline travel for military spouses, starting with TSA Precheck.

Let’s discuss the process of getting a passport today. It is an essential document for international travel. With H.R. 8281 back up for a vote in Congress, the passport will also be an essential document for people to retain their right to vote.

The military has one of the most generous time off policies I’ve seen, at least in the U.S.  But their restrictions on taking that time off can make it feel less available.  We find plenty of ways to use it. My husband and I are constantly counting to ensure we’ll have enough for what we want to do, but there are a few significant restrictions that you should be aware of.

If you spend leave like my family, then planning time off involves a lot of math.  But that only applies to traditional leave that our service members accrue.  Some special kinds of leave may be available to your family depending on the circumstances you find yourself in.  

February will be a month of travel for our family, so I thought now would be a great time to talk about all things travel as a military family.  Traveling with a service member can be tricky, and we often need contingencies to our contingencies.  Let’s talk about the leave policy for today, though. 

On the afternoon of Friday, January 24th, 2025, I checked off a dream on my list of 100. This dream did not make it to my list of focus for the year because I had zero expectations that it would happen this year. I checked off dream number 61 on Friday night: help my parents reach Partner.  

As we discuss the varying questions affecting military spouses and their ability to achieve their dreams, let’s start with some of the basics:

Today felt like the perfect time to talk about the concept of “hurry up and wait,” which plagues spouses and service members alike.  For those new to the military, this will become the unfortunate standard, and the only solution is to figure out how to work with it.  Flexing our lives and plans definitely comes easier to some than others, and if you have a hard time adjusting, take heart that I, as well as many other spouses, have been in the same position.

Today is Inauguration Day, and we see a new administration take over. It is a happy day for some and a day of disappointment for others. For military spouses, though, this day can often be one of anxiety, even if they voted for the person saying the oath.

There is a life cycle that every military spouse goes through.  We need different skills for each stage, and we have different questions that need answers, but for the for most part, every military spouse you know has passed through each of these phases, and we’ve definitely done some more than once.

I want to spend the next couple of weeks discussing the big and small questions of military life. I’m sure some are low on your totem pole of priorities and high for others. These questions all affect the ease with which we can move through military life. Knowing which spot to step on can help us avoid the land mines in our path.  

Friday, I wrote a post about feeling like I could keep my head above water with military life, so of course, Sunday night that kicks me in the teeth.  We said no to a dream last night.  Of course, it isn’t a forever no, and we will still see that dream come true one day, but we knew today wasn’t the day for it.  That being said, it is tough to turn down a dream that we know we wouldn’t think twice about if this was 14 years from now and the military was behind us.

I hope you were able to create a list of 100 dreams this week and then narrow that list down to create a focused path forward for this year, but I understand if you weren’t. Military spouse life demands a lot from us, and if you are like me at certain points over the last five years, then you may be completely underwater. Dreaming is very hard when you can’t even tell which way is up.

I’ve established the 12 goals I will focus on in the New Year.  If you look at my list from a year ago, five have been replaced with new dreams as I achieved them, five have been carried over, and two have been left behind.  I want to explain my reasoning in case you have trouble deciding which dreams to pursue and which to let go of.

Now that we have created our list of 100 dreams, it is time to narrow our focus for the year.  I focus on 12 because there are 12 months in the year.  This doesn’t necessarily mean achieving one dream a month, but it’s a nice idea.  12 also allows me to focus on dreams across different aspects of life and gives me room to have dreams of various sizes come true.  That being said, 12 is just a number; you can choose any number you want.  Last year, I achieved 5 of the 12.  Maybe I will do better this year than a 42% success rate, but I like aiming higher rather than setting my sights lower to create a false sense of victory.  So, here are the 12 dreams that I have decided to focus on for the year 2025; what are yours going to be?

As promised, here is my list of 100 dreams for my life. Remember, this list is ever-changing, and it is not the be-all to end all of my life. I will always find new dreams, and I will replace the dreams I achieve with new ones. I will probably outgrow some of these and remove them from the list in the coming months and years. But for today, this is what I would like to do with, and for my life, and in the coming months, I hope to check a few off that list. Feel free to steal as many as you want! Hopefully something on here inspires the list that you are creating.

Happy New Year! It is officially 2025 (which doesn't feel like an actual year), which means it is time for New Year’s resolutions.  We never need to wait until New Year’s Day to make significant changes in our lives.  In fact, waiting for a hard deadline to start can diminish our motivation to actually achieve those goals.  That being said, it is a natural reset point to pick some new dreams to focus on in the year to come.

2024 is over.  Technically, we’ve got another 36 hours in it, but as far as achieving our dreams goes, the game has pretty much been called.  There are still a few dreams that may allow us to cross the finish line in the next few hours, but for most of us, it is time to shift our perspective to 2025.  But before we look to the future, let’s look at the areas where we didn’t make our dreams come true.  I’ll go first.