Mixing marketing with Memorial Day, the Lifetime network is promoting Season 3 of its popular series Army Wives with a web site dedicated to real life Army wives in a feature called "Homecoming." The "Real Army Wives" site has videos of the experiences of Army couples as they reunite following deployment, as well as a message board for spouses to give their own feedback.

The issues of daily life just look different through the eyes of military families. Stars and Stripes has produced several articles lately that bring this point home.

• Today's paper includes a story about doulas, how they assist expectant moms and how this service is especially significant to women when their husbands are deployed. In this story, the doula who was interviewed is also a military wife. Good to see how we are supporting each other as a community. Click here to read this story by Stripes reporter Charlie Reed.

Happy Mother's Day! Whether you're serving overseas, home with the kids while your husband is deployed, or just maintaining normalcy for your military household, I hope that all you moms out there are receiving some warm fuzzies of appreciation today.

The Mother's Day edition of the Spouse Calls column is all about the mothers of active duty members. Read it here.

One of the moms who contributed advice for this column was Sandy Doell, an Army mom-turned-author. Her book “Mom’s Field Guide,” offers practical advice, mostly for surviving a son or daughter’s deployment.

Military Spouse Appreciation Day was this week. Whether you're a mom, a dad, a husband or a wife -- if you're a military spouse, that day is set aside for recognizing your contributions. I say there are only so many accomplishments you can cover in a 24-hour period, so one day to recognize what we do is pretty ambitious. I spend a part of almost every day writing about the amazing things military spouses are doing, and I haven't run out of material yet!

On the other hand, maybe one day is more than enough. Military spouses have been doing what we do for a long time before there was a day to recognize it. A little appreciation each day goes a lot further than a one-day blowout anyway.