The past few years had been difficult. I’d served in the Army for 26 years, including as a military foreign area officer in Western Europe. I’d lived there with my husband and our daughters. My husband was enlisted but had retired from the military after we got married. Now I was retired too. And divorced. My three girls were grown and living on their own. My life felt small compared to the adventure it had once been.
Retirement had been a big adjustment. As a lieutenant colonel, I was used to overcoming challenges, but reintegrating into civilian life proved unexpectedly difficult. I had spent decades climbing the Army hierarchy. I’d rubbed shoulders with world leaders and headed political-military operations. My husband and I had moved to Michigan at the end of my career. In our new neighborhood, I didn’t feel respected by the men or relatable to the women. I didn’t know how to fit in outside the military world that I’d been a part of for most of my adult life.
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Ivy Dishes
“My mom found a house for us to look at,” said my fiancé, Jon. “It’s in Richfield, not far from where I grew up.”
The Duet
“Can you perform a hymn for us next week?” my pastor asked me after Sunday service.
The Girl in the Dream
Was this a church? The high, vaulted ceilings made it seem like one—almost but not exactly.
News From Around Our Wonderful World
Liverpool, England Joanne Carr is hailing her son, Dougie McInerney, as her guardian angel.
A Light in the Blizzard
I stepped on the gas and shifted into drive, then reverse, then back into drive again.
Straight From the Fish's Mouth
Florence, Italy. I’d been there before on one of those scruffy five-dollar-a-day youth-hostel jaunts through Europe, but now, just graduated from college, I was wondering what to do with my life.
Divine Callings
Have you ever felt called to a purpose?
Dad's Voice
As I reached to turn off the lamp on my bedside table, my eyes fell on the card my brother Isaac had given each of us siblings on what would have been Dad’s sixty-eighth birthday.
Ben's Answer
It was midafternoon, and I was already curled up on the couch in the living room with no plans to move.
A Doll's Hat
My fears around the surgery built all day.... God, please let me be as strong as my young patients are.
Living Better With Alzheimer's
What if a village square, a garden and two donkeys could help restore dignity and slow the disease?
The Fighting 56th BY STAN PIET
P-47D UN-V, NAMED "PAT," from the famed 56th FG, 63rd FS, prepares for another fighter sweep in support of the D-Day invasion. The second mount of Capt. Gordon S. Stevens, it survived until early September, when it was lost with Capt. Roy Fling at the controls. Stevens himself was lost in a "Pat" replacement on September 18, a victim of flak over Belgium.
5 TIPS TO PREVENT DEMENTIA
FOLLOWING THESE SIMPLE STEPS CAN HELP REDUCE MANY RISKS TO COGNITIVE FUNCTION
From good to GREAT!
You’re already taking steps to stay healthy, happy and energized. And these tiny tweaks will give you amazing results!
MISSOURI HALTS SOLAR TAX BREAK AS FEDERAL INCENTIVES EXPAND
As the U.S. government expands incentives for renewable energy, a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court is moving the state in the opposite direction by halting a solar energy tax break that has been on the books for nearly a decade.
Cori Bush
POLITICAL POWERHOUSE
'A Bloody Republican Primary'
Missouri, which once elected a dead man to the Senate, is living up to its reputation for messy elections
Jared Greene's File & Hammer Saw Works
Jared Greene has been making a name for himself in the hand tool world with his handmade back saws.
QUEEN TOLD TO CALL IT QUITS!
But Elizabeth, 96, defies the royals & vows to die on the throne
LIZA LOSING WAR WITH DEMENTIA!
Sad last days cut off from friends, finances