Tricare Basics with A Military Wife's Life blogger, Sarah

[00:00:00] Welcome to today's show. We are talking to Sarah. And Sarah is, would you say that you're a blogger? . I feel like that's fair. Yeah. Fair. Okay. Okay. So it's a military wife's life is her blog and her website and all the things on Instagram and everything else, and is just a wealth of information and resources and things like that.

[00:00:20] So I wanted to bring Sarah on the show. We're gonna talk about. Your military life and , how you've developed your career. And then we're gonna get into all the things that you have and then specifically the resources that you have for Tricare since we are in that open enrollment window right now.

[00:00:34] So Sarah, welcome to the show, . 

[00:00:37] Thank you so much for having me. I'm 

[00:00:39] sorry of appreciate it. Yeah, of course. Okay, so let's just start off with your relationship to the military. How, what, what is your affiliation and what does your military life look like? So, 

[00:00:51] So I'm married to an Air Force man. He joined ROTC before we even met, so he was already ready, committed had like gotten a scholarship and signed and everything.

[00:01:02] So knew that at the beginning. Obviously didn't know, but did know that. And so we met when I was in my first year of college and I was doing, I was studying computer engineering and my plan was, you know, Finish my degree, get like, and then like, you know, we'd be off and I just didn't, I don't know, it just didn't connect in my brain that that's not how it was gonna work if I was to marry him.

[00:01:24] Yeah. But I mean, we got married and we had the conversation before and after of like. This is like, we're gonna be leaving. So I talked to the people in charge and they, I was like, Hey, am I able to finish my degree if I move? And they said no, which is, cause it's computers , but they said no.

[00:01:44] And so I decided instead of paying for college, that wouldn't be able to take anywhere with me. Like a lot of. Credits wouldn't transfer over. I just decided to stop after two years and get my associate's. So I at least had that done. Uhhuh, . And then we moved, I guess it was a year after I stopped. I worked for a year and then we moved.

[00:02:05] Okay. And right when we moved was , I found out I was pregnant and Covid. And it was like our first like, you know, going from ROTC to active duty. So it was like our first big move, our first real introduction to the military. Cause if you've ever been ROTC to like active duty, it is not the same thing.

[00:02:25] very different. Yeah. Just, even, just like the transition from college to normal life is weird. So. Sure. Anyway. I ended up getting super sick, so once we moved, I didn't have the chance to continue working. Yeah. And so we got here and we found out he needed to go to training. So I, instead of going with him and potentially being alone in a place where I didn't know anybody pregnant, having to give birth mm-hmm.

[00:02:51] I went and lived with my family for , the last trimester of my pregnancy. Mm-hmm. , and he went to training. and it was a miracle he was able to come and see the baby like he got there like a week before I delivered. Mm-hmm. and then mm-hmm. , He got his paternity leave and then we went back to training and since then we've been bouncing back and forth between trainings.

[00:03:14] Mm-hmm. , like all across the country. So that's kind where we're at now. He's in his last training. Mm-hmm. and. He'll start deployment like less than a month, so. Mm-hmm. , we're just zooming . 

[00:03:31] Yeah. Through this experience. 

[00:03:33] Yeah. So, And coming outta 

[00:03:35] it with two babies. Oh my word. That's a lot. So are you guys together now?

[00:03:40] Are you separated right now or, Yes. Okay. His final 

[00:03:44] training is, is here where we're at and like this is where our station we're staying, so. 

[00:03:50] Okay. So you'll be at least staying put there for a little bit. So that'll be nice. At least have a little bit of stability before, because, So once he finishes, as soon as he finishes training, he's.

[00:04:00] Yes. This is so fun. Isn't that just the best ever on my word? And you're gonna be like, you're getting 

[00:04:06] ready to have your second baby. 

[00:04:08] So now you're gonna have two under two and daddy's leaving on deployment. Welcome to the military life. Here we go.

[00:04:18] Yeah, that's the psych. Yeah, it's, that's a lot. We, I know we're gonna have lots of help. We've got plans for people to come visit and. Yeah, I definitely I have lots of hope, so I'm, Yeah, I mean obviously I'm worried, but like we're trying to, you know, find ways to make it easier on all of us. Right. So 

[00:04:38] yeah.

[00:04:38] That's can , right? Yeah, it is. It's really overwhelming. But I think it's, it's one of those situations as a military spouse, You don't know what you're capable of until you're put in the situation. Right. And if you were to imagine like, hey, if I was to imagine what I'm going through right now, like I would say, no, that's never gonna happen.

[00:05:00] I'm not gonna, I can't do that. Right. Can do that. Right. But you, when you're in, you have no other choice. But to make it work and to continue, you know, you gotta take care of your kids. You gotta, you know what I mean? Life goes on. You gotta figure it out. That's one of the things that I think.

[00:05:14] That a lot of that I, I don't know if it rubs military spouses the wrong way. I guess sometimes it depends on the, what season of your military life you're in at the time, but like, I don't know how you do it. Like I can't tell you how many times I heard that when my husband was deployed and I'm like, that is the least helpful thing you can say to a military.

[00:05:32] When they're going through some stuff, you know, like 

[00:05:35] maybe, like, how can I help you? 

[00:05:37] How can I support you? Go there you go. Do you need anything? What can I do for you? Yeah, for sure. But I think that's, that's really smart. To have a plan in place, especially when you're bringing home a second baby to have, you know, family come and help and , just have that staged and ready to go and that at least will take some of the stress of like, holy crap, how am I gonna handle all of this?

[00:06:00] , out of the equation a little bit. For sure. Yeah. Okay. So, Let's talk a little bit about your blog. Where did that come about? When did you start it? Cuz it is prolific. I mean, you have, there are so many topics and resources, It's crazy. So if you have not been on her website yet, would again, a military wife's life and I'll link it in the show notes.

[00:06:19] But there are so many resources and a like, Like across separate branches and so many different topics. So tell me how that came about. And so you have that where you have all these free, downloadable, re Hey, this is what you need to know about this topic, this topic, this topic, this topic. So you have that, but then you also have products as well.

[00:06:38] Yeah. Okay. So tell us about, tell us about all the 

[00:06:41] things. Okay, here we go. So, right after I had my first baby and we moved back, started his training. Like he, he went back into training mode. I, it was like, it was kind of just like a work day was how his training was set. So we'd, you know, go work, come home, the, and then would hang out.

[00:06:59] And so it didn't feel a lot like different, but. I'm, I'm just the kind of person that always needs to be doing something. Yeah. And I guess for me, like taking care of a baby 

[00:07:09] wasn't enough . No, I get it. No, I feel you. I feel you. I felt the same way. I was like, this is great. I'm sitting here watching Httv and holding my sleeping baby because they only want to be held, but I really wish I could do something else.

[00:07:21] I get it. I've been there myself, so I get it. 

[00:07:23] Yeah, it was, it was very much like a, I, I need something that's just me that like, yes. Even. I, I mean obviously this wouldn't have come about if I wasn't married to chase my husband. Sure. But like Right. It still is like, you know, it very much felt like my own thing.

[00:07:37] So it was like, I think he was three or four months old, so it was like in March of see. March of 21 and that's when everything kinda started. And at first it was , I just genuinely had a lot of questions we had nobody to tell us how to add our KidCare. We had nobody to tell us, the resources and options that we had when we first did our, literally nobody came to talk to us.

[00:08:01] Mm-hmm. , like they didn't even know Chase was coming in the first place. Mm-hmm. . So like it, we just felt very. Not prepared for a lot of things. Mm-hmm. . And so for me it started out with just like, I'm just gonna like start researching and I know this is gonna be helpful to at least one person, so I'm just gonna out there, see anybody like, thinks it's helpful.

[00:08:23] And I started getting a lot of a, of my questions, especially from friends that I already knew, but mm-hmm. , a lot of questions like, I don't know. Like I, I get that this is how it works for your branch, but like, what about my branch? Or things like that, and so I kinda just like kept rolling with it.

[00:08:42] Mm-hmm. , So the blog posts, if you , look through them in order, it just , In order, when I put 'em out, it's kinda like, okay, I can tell this is when I got this question and then this is when I got this question. And so it's just like, Sure. I'm just adding as people need more things, you know?

[00:08:56] Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's kinda how it started and how it's going now is just finding the most helpful resources that I can Yeah. As you know, just that one person, but. Compiling as much information as I can that I think would be helpful for others. And then putting out there for other people to to read and to find helpful

[00:09:18] hopefully.

[00:09:19] So. Yeah, for sure. And then you have products that you make as well. There's like stickers and what else? So tell me about that stuff. 

[00:09:26] I, I also, this also was, I'm gonna be honest, it also started out as a selfish product. I just wanted something for me, and then I was like, Oh, this would be a good idea.

[00:09:35] But I just wanted like really simple way to remember all the places we had been. Yeah. Because at that point we had been like, Four different places. Ok. And it was like within a span of like six or seven months, right? And so I was like, well, I wanna remember this. So I started making bases of like, you know, features that I would remember from the base and just ways to like, like the way to display where we've been and kinda like the, we've been on.

[00:10:01] And so now I think I have. 95 bases base print made. So Wow. If you, I, if you've been a lot of places at least. Yeah. And across all branches, which was really cool. And then I do sell stickers bottle.

[00:10:21] The, like the map of the US and just things that I feel like, I don't know, like I want my home as a military family. Yeah. And that I feel like other people would appreciate as 

[00:10:32] well, . Oh yeah, for sure. I've been, I remember that I was, I did, cuz I've been like the jack of all trades, right. As most military spouses are.

[00:10:40] You do this. Place and this and this place. And so for a time when we were Washington, I was a pet sitter cause I love dogs. And I remember pet sitting for a particular military family and I walked into their living room and they had this display on the wall. And it was like, you, I think you, most people have seen it like home is where.

[00:10:57] Whoever the military sends us. And then there's different pictures of , and there's so many different variations of it, but , this one was , it was the state and it had a little heart like out, It was so cute. And I was like, Oh my God, I love that. And we've been , we're , we're salty.

[00:11:11] , we've been for 20 years, we've been a lot of places. We're on our eighth move right now. So , there's a lot of those for, And I, and I don't have one of those. And I'm with you. , you wanna remember the places that you've been and, you know, , it's, I think it's interesting, especially as , we're coming to the end of our career now, hopefully.

[00:11:27] And , it's a nice way to commemorate, , this has been our life for the last 20 years, you know? And where you've been and just remember Oh yeah, I remember. , I just thought That's cool. I love that. The, the sticker idea. So do you have, do you offer any other products besides the stickers?

[00:11:41] I thought I saw something else too. 

[00:11:42] I do also do like custom family portraits that are like the simple, like line drawn and colored in. That's like the most that I do just cause I can't give myself too much to do. . 

[00:11:53] Yeah. So you seem like, so you're very artistic. Oh, well 

[00:11:57] thank you. I, this, this actually was , this whole idea I feel like was my way of giving myself.

[00:12:05] A job and an income, not doing a full time income, but it's some money on the side where I kind tailored what I wanted to do to my skillset and how I already live my life. I already make things for a home. And so like to. I don't know, it just worked out where , I have this creative outlet on Instagram where I can create beautiful graphics and stuff and then send it out to the world.

[00:12:28] Yeah. And so it kinda going back to that career thing, even though I wasn't able to , and I still haven't been able to go back to school . Get a job and my specific field, I was willing to, Yeah, I feel like I still am doing a lot of very technical things, computer things.

[00:12:43] Mm-hmm. behind the scenes on the blog and everything, and designing and, and then also just bringing in other artistic, other, other passions of mine and , I feel like it's worked out really good in . I, Yeah. It just shows I feel like I. It's not a full time income granted, but it does show that you can create something outta nothing.

[00:13:06] Yeah. And I'm proof so . Yeah. There you go. 

[00:13:11] There you go. And the, I think that, I love that too because I think that a lot of times when you hear about businesses that are really successful, They are doing something that really mattered to them or something that, that they were very passionate about and it just, so then it naturally, Turns into this beautiful thing, and I don't, I mean, that doesn't happen every time, right?

[00:13:33] For, But , that's what they, , find your passion and then see how you can make a career out of that passion. So I think that's those are usually the most successful businesses is when you, because you have, there's so much heart behind it. Right. And people feel that and Yeah. And they wanna feel that too.

[00:13:47] , do you see yourself going back to school at some point and, and getting, is that something that you still desire to have as a, a bachelor's? Cause you have an associate's degree. Do you still desire to have a bachelor's degree or, 

[00:13:57] I think it would be fulfilling to be able to go, like for me personally, I would like to be able to say that I was able to, especially I, I got really far and didn't, didn't get to finish, but yeah.

[00:14:09] I think. If that was to happen, it would be pretty, pretty far down the road. Just Sure. Cause of kids and what I'm doing now and health and everything . Sure. 

[00:14:21] Yeah. Yeah. I that's, that's one of those things, it's like, you know, , when you're in the military life, it's like you just gotta like bloom where you're planted.

[00:14:29] Right. You hear that a lot. No. Yeah. Yeah. And go with the flow. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know, you gotta just be where you are.

[00:14:37] And then it's, it's kind of a silly question because honestly you have no idea where you're gonna be . Like literally don't know where you're gonna be in the next couple of years and what your life's gonna look like. So you got, it's just like where you are right now. Okay. So then let's switch gears just a little bit.

[00:14:51] So again, on your blog, you have a ton of resources. And so. Kind of dive in specifically because again, this episode is airing in open enrollment. So I kind of wanted to touch on TRICARE a little bit and I remember when I was a brand new military spouse I, I've told this story before, but it was bananas.

[00:15:10] I was in college in South Carolina. I graduated, so my husband reported to the ship, left on deployment in October. I graduated. In South Carolina. Oh, the ships in San Diego. I graduated in South Carolina in December. Drove across the country with my dog to San Diego. Got there. And so I get there and luckily we were so incredibly blessed that that first command that we went to was, it was a frigo.

[00:15:37] And it's a small, it's a small boy. And it was such a close knit community, and I was, I'm so grateful that that was my experience because I literally, and one of this is one of your resources as I was like I got sick or something was going on and I was like, I don't know how to go to the doctor.

[00:15:54] What do I do? Yeah, who do you call? What, you know, . So you have that, that's literally one of your resources. Like, okay, how do I make a doctor's appointment? So let's, if you wouldn't mind just sharing some of the Tricare resources that you have on your site, cuz that's literally one of 'em. Like, this is what you need to do.

[00:16:10] How do you add, like, how you based on Exactly, Yeah. So dive into, into those Tricare resources that you. 

[00:16:19] Yeah, so I think I have like eight blog posts that go over different like TRICARE subjects. And first one is like, you know, very basic. Like you have literally no idea what's going on.

[00:16:30] Explains what are you, what's and then I also have a couple that go over like specific care, like dental care and vision care, which you don't get either. Like, just because you have tri care and I didn't know that until I needed to go make a dentist appointment. Exactly. Ok. 

[00:16:52] Yeah. Oh, so, ok. I need, I need to do that separately.

[00:16:55] Good to know. Thanks, . Like 

[00:16:57] things You Sure. Of course. And, and then also, I mean, because we experienced I to but like adding your baby to track care. Yeah. It's like who to talk to, how to get that done if you're by yourself, how you add them when your person's gone. Mm-hmm. . So. All of those things.

[00:17:14] How to change your TRICARE region. Talking specifically about Tricare overseas mm-hmm. and how that's different, what to expect when you're not in the us. Mm-hmm. , all that stuff, and then mm-hmm. . I also think there's one specifically that talks about like mental health resources that, that go over Tricare specific and not, but yeah, it's.

[00:17:36] And there's more I can write out too, which is crazy, but it's a, it's a, a beast in and of itself, Tricare to navigate. And so, which is another reason why I was like, I need to just put some paper, so. On paper on my websites. , I guess. , Yeah. And put it out there so people know. Cause like even when, when I went to go and see like, how do I add my there online, nothing came up.

[00:18:03] Right? And so like, you know, Chase had to go talk to the people that work. At the hospital, but like it wasn't a military hospital, so like, we have no idea help you. So he just like walked onto base and was like, Hey, I just had a baby. What do I do? ? Yeah. And but like you don't wanna have to go through that.

[00:18:19] You wanna be prepared. Especially when it's like, you know, with adding your baby, you have a window of time Sure. That like to make sure everything gets covered. So it's just, Yeah. So there to, to be as helpful as possible. . 

[00:18:33] Yeah. Yeah. So that's a, cuz that's a thing like you, you to, so to be able to add your kid or your baby to Tricare, they have to be in deers.

[00:18:43] And the only way that they can be added into deers in deers, I don't know what it stands for, but it's the, the, basically like the person. File that the military has that she says, what you are eligible for, Right? So when you're a spouse, when you get married to a military member, you get added to deers.

[00:19:01] That's how you can get your id. And then that's how you are able to, So if you're not in deers, nothing's happening. , right? So step one is you gotta get your baby put into deers. And I don't know how to do that. My husband did it when we had our daughters. I don't know how that works. But you have it in your in your thing.

[00:19:17] Yeah. And then for the new military spouses. Okay. So we just talked about if you have get yourself, you need to be endears as a spouse, Right? And then for any children that you have, your significant other or your military member has to get them added to deers. How they do that through their command.

[00:19:34] Great question. Well, you have a note. You they can download or go to your blog post for that. Yeah. So then if you, if you, so then you are like, Okay, I'm sick, I need to see a doctor, what do I do? So for most people , There are different types of Tricare, right? Which you have a separate blog post on the different types of Tricare.

[00:19:52] Most people get enrolled in Tricare Prime, which is where you get assigned to a military facility or a military hospital. If there is one within, I think it's like 30 miles of your location. If there's not, then they will assign you out of town or if they're full, which happens a lot these days. So then you select that and then you have to get assigned.

[00:20:14] So if you're prime, you have to get assigned a. What is it called? PCM Primary. That's it. I'm like, Pom. Nope, that's not the one. Pcm, Right? Primary care manager. And then, and they will assign you. So, God, that's like a, it's a lot. It's a lot. Right? And so then, so when you get to your new duty station and your significant other, checks in, that's kind of part of that check in process, right?

[00:20:41] But then as the, as the military spouse, you have to log in to TRICARE and then you can do all of that stuff if you log into tricare. So then once you have a primary care manager signed to you, you can, if you are Tricare Prime then you can, they will tell you where to go, whether. On base or what they have.

[00:21:01] So Tricare, I mean, yeah, it's a beast. So for those new people, that's kind of in a nutshell, but how it happens but there's a lot of other options and then I feel like the more you get into it, you might make different decisions for yourself. So for me personally, because I don't like to be told what to do, , that's my type A personality coming out there.

[00:21:21] I have tri. Standard so that I don't have to go and ask for referrals because I don't like that , right? I don't wanna ask for a referral. I just wanna be able to, I wanna go to the eye doctor when I go to the eye, and I wanna be able to go to the dermatologist every year for a skin check and not have to ask permission to be able to do it.

[00:21:39] So I'm, I'm snotty that way, so, 

[00:21:42] Yes. And so you need to pick your own doctor 

[00:21:44] and to be able to pick your own doctor. Exactly. So that might be a better, a better choice for you as Tricare standard. So I'm just curious, what are, or do you have any, so you said you have a lot of friends and people that reach out to you as your blog has continued to grow, mm-hmm.

[00:21:57] what are some of the common questions that you get asked about Tricare specifically? 

[00:22:02] Most of the time it's. What, what am I doing? , I have no idea what's going on. Can you please point me in the right direction? Mm-hmm. . There's also, I've also gotten a lot of questions specifically when I had my son mm-hmm.

[00:22:13] and having this baby too. A lot about , what specific things are covered a lot of the time. Actually I do get that question. , , do you know if this is gonna be covered and. I will send you to the website. I, I'm not right there, but if you experienced it, I know, but Right. But a lot of the time it's either specific questions about specific, it's usually like their specific situation, Yeah.

[00:22:32] Oh, I know you said somewhere about how you told me I could. An epidural and it was free for Track Your Prime. And so sending them link of , Hey, this is where you need to go to find the information for this. Mm-hmm. I, I it feel like lot of I do is sending people blog posts and sending people information like Okay.

[00:22:50] Is where need to and is gonna your answer. Yeah. , for two reasons. One so , I don't need to sit there and a, , find the answers to all the questions, but two, so that people become self sufficient of being able to do the research on their own. Because obviously I wanna help answer all the questions, you know?

[00:23:04] Right. But I'm only one person, so a lot of the. Forwarding people to the, actually, the actual right. Website. Mm-hmm. . I've noticed a lot of military websites will send you to a place where it's a broken link or it's you just have to go through so many steps in order. That's what I try to do, is , get as specific as possible and send it way so that you can still, you know, learn about how the process works.

[00:23:30] Researching, how to go find the list of what is covered for Tricare, that website. Right. But being able to also be able to do it on your own so that you, you know, if you future questions forever so that you can answer them, so. Right. 

[00:23:42] So diving off of that a little bit, what are some of the best resources that there are for military spouses?

[00:23:48] Like what are kind of the, the common places that you tend to send people to get inform? 

[00:23:52] So it will depend on the question, but I do have, so one of my blog posts is just like a giant resource page of all of the resources that are branch specific. Okay. For like anything. So it covers anything from, you know, financial readiness to deployment, help to VA benefits, so much stuff.

[00:24:11] Mm-hmm. . So that's probably the most common thing I send people is , Okay. It's just, I, I can't remember what it's called. I think it's just like, A giant list of resources for military dependents, uhhuh and you just look on your branch. And then there's like all of these resources that they offer that every base is supposed to have that like, or at least should have an area.

[00:24:32] And so there's that one. I also send people to military One source a lot. Yeah. Because they have a lot of really great content. They also have help for like mental health things. Mm-hmm. um, Like you can meet and talk with somebody on there. Mm-hmm. . So that's another big one. Another one is usually just asking them what their base is and then sending them the website for the base and saying, Hey, like this is, you know, if you click on For families, they'll usually have like a family section and then that's like where all your information is gonna be specifically for you and for the place that you're at.

[00:25:06] Right? So this kinda depends on the question, but yeah, those are probably my, the top three 

[00:25:11] places that I sent people. Yeah, for sure. And that's, you know, it's one of those things where I think that the internet has come a long way, , mm-hmm. with, as far as like Googling goes. But you're right, there's, there's there's a lot of things that's like a dead end.

[00:25:26] I remember. The, just this last move that we did here, we were doing a, we decided that we're gonna do a full Diddy because mm-hmm. , we are just tired of the shit show. I'm just gonna say it, . We are tired of the shit show that is the military moving you because it's a disaster. And our last week was a disaster.

[00:25:43] And I'm like, I am not putting myself or my family through that again. Mm-hmm. and I. Only gotten worse since then. But but I was Googling, I'm like, Okay, like what do I, how do you know? Like, yeah, just looking for resources, right? And I couldn't find anything. And I'm like, come on. Like, there's like, why is this so hard?

[00:26:01] That's part of why I started the podcast because I was like, We've gotta get better. Disseminating information cuz it's there right now that I'm in. Like I'm really entrenching myself in the mill spouse space. And I'm like, oh my God. There's like, you're, we your blog. Holy cow. Like that's just like a wealth of information.

[00:26:18] I like That would've been great to have, you know, that I wish I would've known about that. You know what I mean? So that's kind of part of the, the, what I wanna use this platform for is getting that information. So that people have those kinds of resources because it's, you know, I mean that, that's the thing.

[00:26:34] But I agree with you. Military one source is fantastic. And even just going to military one source and clicking on their search link, , you'll get so much information they, they're really fantastic about, and then sending you places. And then Tricare specifically like tricare.com. That's, I mean, like you, but their website is not super awesome, to be completely honest with you.

[00:26:55] Yeah. And I find myself. Like looped, like I'm looking for something specific and then I feel, and I'm like, What? No, that, no, that's not what I, And then it like, just 

[00:27:04] send, it's like most as bad as the phone calls where they just send you it to the same place where they just sent you 

[00:27:08] from. Right, right.

[00:27:09] And it's so frustrating. Yeah. It's so frustrating. But, so, okay, so that's fantastic. So you have all these resources that are like right there, and then you have a specific blog post that. Resources, right? These are where you can go for your separate things. So I think that's awesome. So Sarah, , do you have anything else that you wanted to, that you wanna share?

[00:27:28] Any of the resources that you have or offerings that you. So 

[00:27:32] there are a couple of things. Ok. The first one is because I can't, answer all of the questions, I do give people the option and it's, it's totally free to just , sit down and actually zoom chat with me. Oh, cool.

[00:27:45] Because there are sometimes where like, , it's a really specific situation or specific question. Like for example, somebody was writing a personal statement that they wanted to send to apply to a dentistry program. Ok. And they wanted my input about like how they were approaching their military life experiences and how best to portray that in a way that was, you know, enticing for them.

[00:28:08] Ok. But also, Putting military spouse in the real light, not just like a positive flu fee. Like, Oh, I'm so helpful. You know, all this stuff. Right. So talking to people individually about stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Because I, like, I have, you know, when I do, I have time in my day to sit down and talk to people, and that's what I really love doing, is being able to just like, get to know people better, let them like know that they have somebody in their corner and a friend to, if they just like need somebody.

[00:28:36] Yeah. To, because a lot of our questions too are really specific and it's hard to find answers. Sure. And so yeah, so things like that. I do also like. When you go on my website and you scroll down to a certain point, it'll pop up a thing that says like, Oh, do you wanna join my website or , my email list.

[00:28:53] And it's got an information sheet for each branch where it just goes over really basic things that is helpful to know as a spouse. You know, just like. The rank progressions, just so you know where they're headed and ways that they can serve. And like the top five acronyms to know for the branch.

[00:29:08] Yeah. And then obviously everything that's in my website, like I've got resources for, you know, moving. Tricare, like relationship specific, deployment Specific, like mm-hmm. separation in general. Mm-hmm. and like for TI or any other type of military separation, so, mm-hmm. , yeah. And one of my favorite things is just being able to like, share all my Instagram, all of the awesome resources that I'm seeing everywhere.

[00:29:32] Yeah. Um, So like, whether that's like somebody just put out an awesome workbook that I feel like people would benefit from. Mm-hmm. You know, some information that like the, like one specific branch is put out that like, you know, it would be helpful to know. That's, that's probably the other place where, where my focus goes is the Instagram world.

[00:29:50] Yeah. Of Okay. Putting things as I can to share . 

[00:29:55] Awesome. And your Instagram handle is a military wife's life? 

[00:30:00] Yes. Same. Everything as everything. Everything is. 

[00:30:05] Yeah. Perfect. Well that's good. That's smart. Keep it , keep it as simple as possible. Right. 

[00:30:09] And it's really, for me, it's just so I know what's going on.

[00:30:13] Yeah, for sure. Well, I appreciate all of the time and effort that you have put into creating these resources and curating this kind of collection of. Of information that you've collected. And cuz again, you know, I, that's why I started this podcast because I'm looking around and I'm like, where's this information?

[00:30:31] Like we, how, how is there not as long as the military's been around, how are there not more resources about moving? And there are. It's just hard to find them. Yeah. It's so hard. So you know, my goal with this podcast, and I'm sure your goal with your blog too, is make that easier. Can we make that easier?

[00:30:48] Can we like, let's like point people in and so Yeah, exactly. Right. And to share you know, different different things that are out there for people to be able to access. Yeah. Okay. All right. Cool. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for 

[00:31:03] having me.

[00:31:04] It was a pleasure to talk to you. Yes.