Several years ago, I knew a family readiness support assistant that had the following quote in her signature block:

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away."

At this point, it is difficult to see amazing moments. After all, my husband just left me with three kids, one of whom has special needs, to “hang out” with his buddies. Or at least that was the track that was playing in my head. Of course, that is a figment of my imagination. My husband is actually working very long hours under a lot of stress to help people that he doesn’t know and he is doing it very willingly. So as his wife, the very least I can do is to look for the moments that take my breath away! I want to share several of those moments that we have had recently.

Moment #1 Friday evening, I decided to take the kids out to dinner. We went early so as to set ourselves up for a successful meal since my 5-year-old son who has autism can encounter some difficulties coping in restaurants. Even though the restaurant was almost empty, the hostess chose to seat people on either side of us, which is usually “certain death” for our evening. As the pace of my 5-year-old’s echoing grew, along with his volume, we paid our check and made our way to the car. With everyone safely buckled, I turned on the car and “Don’t Stop Believin’” as sung by the cast of Glee was screaming through the radio. The kids began yelling to open the sunroof and the windows and turn it up! Before I knew what was happening, we were all singing the chorus as loud as we could, and let’s face it, you are singing it in your head right now, aren’t you? I almost hated for the song to end, but I play that moment in the movie of my mind when I get frustrated and tired.

Moment #2 Unfortunately, I had not properly planned for the weekend, so I found myself with three kids in Walmart on Saturday, with the threat of terrible weather hanging over our heads. When we got into the car to go I started preparing my 5-year-old for the visit to the store. We have a mantra, “We get what’s on the list and then we look at toys.” While it may seem strange to repeat that over and over on the way to a store, for the autistic 5-year-old, that is the best way to know exactly what is expected of him. We continue that mantra as we pick up each item on our list, “We get what is on our list and then we look at toys.” That is what we did. We picked up everything that was on our list and then we all walked over to the toy area. I let him and the other two kids push buttons, take their time and comb every aisle that they wanted to see. Then, when it was time to go, about 10 minutes later, he grabbed my hand and we calmly went through the checkout. It wasn’t until we reached the car that I realized what had just happened. The heavens had smiled on me, and we had a successful trip to Walmart. When everyone was safely buckled into the car I sat in awe of our moment!

Moment #3 I am training for a half marathon and for those of you who know me well - I don’t run. I run from the house to the car when it rains. I run, at a full scary sprint, when my son takes off in the wrong direction. I run to be the first in line at a Black Friday sale, but other than those three occasions, I don’t run. Well, a sweet friend talked me into training for the Princess Half Marathon in February 2013. I have been slowly working my way toward 30 minutes of continuous running, or three miles or maybe death. Today, I didn’t run 30 minutes and I didn’t run three miles, so what is the big deal? I ran for 24 minutes, walked really fast for 6 and I went 2.8 miles total. That is the longest and farthest that I have ever run, and, I didn’t die. As I walked home from the neighborhood center, I had a little more bounce in my step even though I was tired. All I kept thinking was, ‘I did that,’ and most importantly, ‘I did it for me!’ I hope that you will take a few moments out of your day, week or month to look for those “Don’t Stop Believin” moments. Journey was right! You have to hold on to that feeling! Play them in the movie of your mind when you feel the weight of the deployment, your kids, your in-laws, your out-laws or any aspect of your life take over. Stop for a moment and don’t stop believing that there are moments that can truly take your breath away.

Strength and Courage ... sby

PCS season is upon us. And this year, you don’t have to pack alone.

Check out the Salute to Spouses webinar , “Is it Supposed to Be Like This?: Military Spouses Share Tips for Surviving the Upcoming, Summer PCS”.

The session, now available at our Webinar page, features two career Army wives and Salutetospouses.com contributors, Jan Childs and Sarah Young.

The pair has more than 10 moves between them and have shipped their household goods across the state and across the sea.

Have questions about prepping your home for the packers? They answer them.

Wondering whether you should feed your packers lunch or give them a tip? That is discussed.

The wedding album and other precious items – pack, carry or store? Hear Jan and Sarah give their tips and tricks for a career’s worth of worldwide moves.

Be sure to check back for future webinars with our panel of expert military wives as we talk candidly about the ups and downs of military life.

So, I am fairly certain that you are wondering who is Sarah Young and why would she have something to say? Well, let me tell you a little about myself and you can decide if what I have to say is something that you will want to read!

I grew up in rural Alabama, and for those who live for an installation reference, that was right outside Fort Benning, GA. I did not grow up around the military. My family was in the teaching ministry. I went to the same school from second grade through twelfth grade, and my parents still live in the house where they raised my older brother and me.

I went to college in Macon, Georgia, and I earned a degree in business. I moved back to the Columbus area and worked for two large companies there.

Just after the ball dropped and the year became 2001, I met a man that would eventually become my husband. In May of 2002, I officially became a U.S. Army “dependent,” and I have never looked back. My sweet soldier has shown me this great nation courtesy of the U.S. Army, and we have spent time in Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maryland and now Kansas. He taught me to use a map and he taught me to go with the flow. I think one of his favorite stories to tell is that of our very first PCS move. He was three months home from the invasion to Iraq, and we were moving from Georgia to Arizona with a nine-month-old. I turned to my husband/hero and said, “Do you know where we are going?” He replied, “No, I just figured that when we got close, we would follow the signs.” That was the beginning of the roller coaster ride that is Army life and I love it!

I am the extremely proud mother of three amazingly resilient children. The oldest sweet boy is currently nine and in the third grade. My middle and only sweet girl is seven and in the first grade. My youngest sweet boy is five and will begin kindergarten in the fall. He has been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum with developmental delays.

I have not only been in the public workforce, but I am a career volunteer as well. I have been able to try a lot of different things since becoming a volunteer. I have been able to teach, lead, fundraise and be a mentor. I have learned how to tile, do electrical, plumbing and carpentry, and, just recently, I have conquered a weight problem (albeit a self proclaimed problem). I am now healthier and more active than I have been in years and I begin training today for my first half marathon!

We have just begun our fifth deployment and this time, just like all of the times before, it is different. Sweet soldier has gone to a different area of the word, and our older children actually understand what is happening and fear for his safety. My hope is that through this blog, you will see that whatever feelings you have during any deployment of your soldier, you can find positives. I hope that you will work through your pain, just like I do sometimes, and I hope that you will find your balance. This is the first deployment we have experienced where I don’t feel overwhelmed by the outside world or what’s inside my home. If you are not there, that is okay. I spent most of my last deployment face-down in a box of cookies with three very small children at my feet, and my hope is that as I share my experiences, you will find hope and energy in knowing that “If Sarah can do it, then I can too!”

Strength and Courage ... sby

I love a good story. I enjoy it even more when it highlights the altruistic nature of our community that is so often buried beneath the doom and gloom of people behaving badly.

Check out this feel good tale of a Marine sergeant and his bride who left their wedding album in a Fort Myers, Fla., airport in 2007. An airport employee found the book and refused to dump the gorgeous photos of the couple’s beach wedding in the trash or the lost and found.

The employee searched locally and then statewide. Last week, she contacted a television news crew and the story was featured on CNN.

The mystery was solved when a viewer suggested she look on the backs of the photos for clues. She found a name, began to dig on the internet and finally found the bride’s parents.

The photo album is now safe in the arms of the couple.

Read full article now.

My family is constantly losing items as we PCS and travel to make simple visits with family and friends. I often think part of the price of being a military family is a willingness to be ready to place less importance on personal possessions, and lose a lot of them along the way.

I am thrilled that a stranger thought differently, and worked diligently until these photos found their way home.

Here we go again. That really is what I thought as I pulled out the camera and lined everyone up to quickly take a picture of my favorite soldier and his kids before they got on the bus for school. This picture would commemorate the start of our fifth (gulp) deployment.

You see, it began in January, 2003. There is a picture of a sweet soldier kissing his one-month-old baby boy goodbye. November, 2004. That same sweet soldier is kissing his almost two-year-old son and one-month-old daughter goodbye. In September 2007, once again, we see my sweet soldier kiss his five-year-old son, three-year-old daughter and another one-year-old son goodbye. Something as simple as a picture had become a deployment tradition for Team Young.

If you were counting, you noticed that I only mentioned three dates above. Our first deployment began in May 2002, and back then our story was fairly unique. We dated. We were engaged. We eloped two weeks before deployment not knowing when he would be home or when (or if) war would be declared! Three days before he was set to leave, we discovered that I was pregnant!

I had never really spent a lot of time around the military, and the thought of him deploying scared me to death. To safeguard my heart, and since communication was spotty at best, I asked someone who was in the parking lot at the "link up point" to take a picture of us together, and that picture hung in a special place in our home the entire time he was gone. Thus, the "link up point" picture tradition was born.  To date, there is a large frame that now holds five pictures of my sweet soldier and me. Some of the pictures are cute, and some are just, well, not cute! But the truth is that they are what make up the fabric of our family!

"Here I Go Again" was the song that Whitesnake recorded in 1987 right? "Like a Drifter, was I born to walk alone? " Heck no! That’s why I got married, but “here I go again on my own.” As I watched him drive away from the link up point this time, I was not scared or sad. I was proud! I am proud of who my sweet soldier is, and I am proud of what he does. I will admit that I had a pity party for about two seconds as I pulled into the empty driveway and opened the door to the empty house, but that party was quickly broken up by the siren that was my five-year-old autistic son, whose morning schedule had been disrupted by an errand to drop dad off for another year.

Yep... Here I go again!

Every time we pack up for another PCS move, I secretly wish I could load my friends right into the boxes.  In the short two to three years we spend in each location, I always find a tight group of gals who I can both laugh and cry with. They love my children like their own. They accept my crazy, scheduled life. They come running to my house for the good times and the bad. And in either case, they always bring a bottle of wine. No matter how much I loved or hated the duty station, these women were the reason it was difficult to leave.

After a few weeks of moaning and groaning that it would never be the same, eventually, I find them again. Not replacements, but more lovely ladies who, inevitably, always remind me of the beloved friends I’ve left behind.

I always think, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could all somehow live on the same street one day. I envision my friends from each location adoring each other as much as I adored each of them. I dream about walking between houses to share funny stories or grab an opinion on a new outfit. I salivate at the idea of a giant Bunco game with all my favorite military spouse friends from around the world. 

The one time a friend and I tried to finagle orders to the same location, Germany, it backfired. We landed in Hawaii, she headed to Georgia. Not quite the fence-sharing scenario I had hoped for.

For now, we all share a front porch on Facebook and grab a quick visit when we can as we pass each other on the highway to a new duty station.

Sarah Young is one of those women. We met when our children attended preschool together at Fort Bragg, N.C. We bonded during our husband’s deployments when Sarah taught me that power tools were nothing to fear and then tutored me in the art of do-it-yourself kitchen renovation. Now we share the joys and the frustration of raising children on the autism spectrum.   

If I could plan my perfect neighborhood, first on the must-have list would not be ample parking or wide sidewalks. Instead, the top of my list would include neighbors like Sarah.

Tomorrow, we will kick off the publication of her weekly blog on www.Salutetospouses.com, following Sarah and her three children as they navigate the joys and frustrations of her husband’s fifth deployment to the Mideast. Sarah’s blog will post weekly every Thursday.

I was devastated to leave her behind when my family left the mainland. I am thrilled to have her join us on Salute to Spouses.  

I hope you come to adore her as much as I do. I’m certain, you will. 

Seven people. Roughly 4,000 miles. 3,500 pounds of luggage and not an ounce more. Bring no car or furniture.

Some PCS orders really read more like an insane game show challenge than an order to move.

When my husband was offered a position in Japan, these were the directions I was given to prepare for our PCS. Most civilians would melt into a pile of good given these stipulations. Military spouses, we just do it.

PCS season is upon us, otherwise known as summer in non-military speak.

On Monday, please tune in to our free webinar as seasoned military spouses and pro PCS’rs Sarah Young and Jan Childs discuss their best and worst PCS experiences and share the tips for making the most of your PCS move.

Ever wonder if you should feed the moving crew while they’re at your house? Should you pack your collectible plates yourself? What exactly are you supposed to do while they are packing?

We’re here to help you.

If you have a specific question, please log in and submit it. We will have time at the end to take as many questions as possible.  

Register Now

In 2011, 190,000 veterans and their families made over 1.3 million visits to VA Vet Centers.

There’s a good chance that thousands more never had the chance to go.

There are currently 300 VA Centers sprinkled across the country. But for veterans who live too far from these centers, or who don’t have the means to travel to one, medical care can become a luxury, not a necessity.

This year the VA added 20 mobile vet centers to their fleet of mobile doctors to help even the most far-flung veterans.

The customized vehicles crisscross the U.S., paying extra visits to rural communities, and are equipped to provide confidential counseling, preventative health care screening, vaccinations and routine primary care. There are already 50 Mobile Vet Centers on the road. In 2011, the vehicles visited more than 3,600 federal, state and locally sponsored veteran-related events.

The 20 new mobile Vet Centers will be based at Birmingham, Ala.; San Diego, Calif.; Atlanta, Ga.; Western Oahu, Hawaii; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Evanston, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Baltimore, Md.; Pontiac, Mich.; and Kansas City, Mo.; Jackson, Miss.; Greensboro, N.C.; Lakewood, N.J.; Reno, Nev.; Stark County, Ohio; Lawton, Okla.; Ponce, Puerto Rico; Nashville, Tenn.; Washington County, Utah; and Green Bay, Wis.

To find a Vet Center in your area, please visit www.vetcenter.va.gov.

Are you still sweating out a deployment while waves of soldiers roll in from Iraq?

It can be tough to smile amid all the happiness when you are still enduring the pain of separation.

A free photo book program through the USO can help to shorten that distance, at least in pictures.

The USO has partnered with RocketLife to allow military family members to create a custom photo book and have it shipped to their deployed service member. The full-color books are small enough to fit in a cargo pocket and hold more than 60 photos.

To get started, visit http://USO.RocketLifeProduction.com. Once you enter the APO/FPO/MPO address of your deployed family member, RocketLife will email you a discount code and a link to the photo book software.

RocketLife prints the books for free and the USO pays for the shipping.

We are so proud to have our very own Allison Perkins featured in this week's Salute to Spouses series on HLNTV.com. The Salute to Spouses series profiles the lives of men and women who hold down the fort at home while their loved ones serve their country.

Allison has been writing about the military for publications around the globe since 1996. After graduating from Northeastern University she became the bureau chief in Taegu, South Korea, for Pacific Stars and Stripes (and coincidentally met her future husband John!) There, she traveled with troops as they trained throughout Asia. She later covered military news, among other topics, for the Greensboro News & Record and has written for several publications including The Boston Globe and Our State magazine. In 2005, she was embedded with North Carolina troops as they traveled to Iraq.

Read Allison's profile now