Isabel G Schmitt

At the end of a long day, Isabel Schmitt knows she’s home when she hugs her husband, Peter, and her two kids. Her shoulders drop. Everything settles for a moment. 

It’s where she can relax, and not just in a sweatpants-and-Netflix kind of way. But in a deeper sense where her dreams can take flight.  

In her words, “Home is where I can explore ideas and let thoughts run their course. Home is safety.”

This definition has been hard-earned.

If PCSes were donuts (as we all dream they were), Isabel would be sitting on a baker’s dozen. Before building businesses and advocating for military families, Isabel served on active duty herself. So it goes without saying that she knows a thing or two about military moves. 

Today, as the co-founder of LOGSA Mil Moves, her lived experience is still the heartbeat of it all. The military spouse- and veteran-owned moving company was built to fix the very system she dealt with time and time again. And when you’ve navigated an Isabel amount of transitions, both personally and professionally, you start to think about “home” a little differently.

“Military families move a lot, and in the absence of deep roots, we curate our homes to create stability for our families,” she shares. This can look like the same red sofa and chairs. The same dining table. The same artwork on the walls. Familiar pieces are especially important when moving with children, giving them something steady to hold onto when everything else is changing. Growing a garden has also been something that provides her family with familiarity when they’ve found themselves in flux. 

However, Isabel has also learned that home isn’t always tied to the things you can see. 

During one move, a few boxes went missing. Inside one of them was a spoon that had been passed down through Peter’s family—his grandmother’s, then his mom’s, then theirs. It was devastating to experience the loss of such a meaningful family heirloom.

When Isabel finally told her mother-in-law, she was surprised at her response:

“Don’t worry about it, Isabel. It’s just a spoon.”

And that was all Isabel needed. “I really felt her in that moment,” she recalls. “She meant it; her eyes said, ‘Let it go.’ And I did. That was so freeing.”

Nothing could erase the loss, but their conversation did change how she held it. And that moment stuck. Her mother-in-law passed away earlier this year, but what she left behind isn’t something you can pack up or replace. It’s the treasured memories of the everyday moments and knowing nothing was left unsaid. 

“At the end of it all, when we shuffle off our mortal coil, we’re left with feelings, not anything physical. Curate the spaces in your mind and heart first. Fill those spaces with memories of great conversations and experiences with the people you love. Be good to people.” 

And that means being good to yourself, too. When it comes to the moves themselves, it’s more about taking the wheel than going along for the ride.

“Advocate for the move you want,” she says. “You have choices. Use them.”

Because when it’s all said and done, you realize home isn’t something you find once and hold onto forever.

It’s something you learn how to create again and again.

Learn more about Isabel’s work here.