Dear Tracy, 

Road Trip! 

Growing up military and then marrying military, means that any family events aren’t just a drive across town. They’re often a drive across several states and I made that drive the first weekend in August for my family’s reunion back in the mountains of Virginia. It’s a date set in stone decades before I was born and if my dad could make the trip across states during his chemotherapy, then in his memory, I could take my son to the reunion. 

Which means when the tiny human was just about 8 months old, he and I drove from Georgia to Virginia and back home again. 

I’m very much about breaking down a trip into multiple days and I have a pretty set rule on my driving versus break routine that I still implement to this day. I would drive two hours, rest an hour, and then drive two more before stopping for the night. (Now that he’s 4 years old, it’s drive 3 hours, rest an hour, and then drive three more.) 

My tiny human has generally been a great traveler, a fact I am very thankful for, but I do my best to facilitate that and when he was just about eight months old I drove 8 hours up to Virginia and 8 hours back down to Georgia and learned some tricks along the way.

Dear Tracy, 

I feel a little (okay, A LOT) exposed writing this, but like we’ve said from the beginning: we can’t be the only ones feeling x,y, or z. It’s one of the reasons we started this adventure of Maternity Fraternity. 

So here goes: I have anxiety. 

For most of my life it’s been a low hum in the background and after the birth of my son I was diagnosed with Post Partum Depression…but it turns out as time goes by and hindsight is 20/20 it was definitely Post Partum Anxiety. 

I have coping skills for the day to day low hum that is just a part of my life. 

Growing up military meant any mental health issues were not openly discussed and either quietly dealt with or compartmentalized to deal with another day. I’m really good at both. 

But, like a tide that rises, it becomes too much for periods throughout my life. When these things happen, I cannot insist enough that you should seek professional help. 

Dear Tracy,

Being a military family unit means our extended family lives FAR AWAY. Sometimes, this is a good thing. But, when it comes to travel? Ugh. 

I have traveled a fair bit with the tiny human. (And most of that is solo.) 

3 weeks ago, we hauled our almost 4 year old cross country from the Midwest to the West Coast through the busiest travel season. 

And here are some lessons I learned: 

Dear Tracy,

Today is January 6th and it’s been four years since my father passed away. The tiny human was born January 9th and celebrates his fourth birthday in just three days. 

Which means, four years ago, a few days after my son was born, my brand new little family drove five and a half hours north to attend my father’s services. I chose not to travel for his civilian memorial and instead chose to honor his life dedicated to our country and attend his military honors. 

I do not recommend road tripping with a newborn, but life happens and you need to choose what is best for you and your family. 

Dear Tracy,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It’s been a year since I came to you with a crazy idea: Create a Community of Mothers. 

From there, you came up with an amazing name, did so much design work, and absolutely blossomed as a writer. I’m so amazed by you and so grateful to call you my cohort on this grand adventure of building our community! 

Last year…

We created this blog.

Began a Facebook page for our community to post questions, ideas, and share our ups and downs. 

Started an Instagram (And have just about 700 followers!)