Dianna Buchwalter

  It’s two days before Christmas, and the house is currently empty, so I took advantage of the quiet moments and began reading Be Safe, Love Mom this morning. The book is written by a mom of four whose children serve in different U.S. military branches. It was a recommended read by a mom who has long been on this journey that we are soon approaching. From an early age, I knew my son wouldn’t go down the college route. Jeremy despised school. There were many parent-teacher conferences in those early years, and most teachers commented that Jeremy was too impulsive, un-focused, and disruptive to the class but had a heart of gold. I remember saying, “if I can just get him to graduate high school.” That’s how those thoughts ended for me, as I wasn’t sure what would come next for him. There wasn’t an urgency to have anything figured out back then, as time was on our side. As he matured, his character proved to be one I am very proud of. We often talked about the military as he grew, and...

"I'm a bad mom." I said to myself after I raised my voice for what seemed like the 75th time a few days ago. The lie that first visited me slowly threatened to become a permanent resident.  It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. Let me set the stage a little bit. My husband and I have five children together. We are a newly blended family discovering the difficulties of merging two households into one while also reaping the rewards of it. As with most children, ours will bicker over the most petty things. "She's staring at me." "He's being bossy." And on and on. On this particular day, after a few hours of being around one another, the kids needed a break and so did I. I retreated to my bathroom and the tears flowed. Question after question flooded  my mind. "Why is this so hard?" "Am I cut out for this?" "Will it ever get better?" I didn't get immediate answers to those questions...