It’s incredible, how effortlessly I trusted her. I let her opinion win and as a result I fell into the unforgiving hands of postpartum anxiety – because, of course, that destructive friend was me.

Kindness is contagious. Kindness dissolves anger, rage, and violence. Even when kindness is beaten down, it finds a way to prevail. All we have to do is look for it.

hat a dresser. Somebody really cared about him, you know? Someone paid attention to his clothes. 

As I hear my oldest say she wishes she didn’t have a sister I wonder how to explain to my daughters, now 3 and 6, the importance of being friends. They don’t understand that one day they will rely on each other as much as they rely on me now.

My childhood was mine; my experiences exist as a narrative. What she gleans from them is her choice. She does not need to replicate my life. Religion, rituals, clothes, music, spirituality, cultural conflicts – I will lay it all out in front of her and she can weave them together in a way that makes sense to her. 

All the doctors, the nurses, the blood draws, the ER filled with sick children including our own would have destroyed him if he hadn't steeled himself against it. But, one look at me would have knocked down that stoic wall he worked so hard to build, protecting him from the reality: our baby is sick, very sick, and we can't fix it.

If you needed an affirmation about the lifecycle of intolerance, this experience proves something: it is taught.

During my time as an army wife, many conversations started this way. A non-military spouse, especially during times of deployment or when facing a big transition, would say these things. 

I’ve struggled with how our choices will affect our kids in the long run, and like any mom I dwell on the various ways I may or may not have messed them up.

With much of today’s media coverage of the military being graphic and somewhat scary for kids, Burleson believes providing positive opportunities to meet service members is important for establishing a healthy sense of national pride.