Jessie James Decker Celebrates Military Spouse Appreciation Day With Mom: ‘Such a Blessing’ (EXCLUSIVE)

If you know the name Jessie James Decker, it may be because of her successful career in country music, or maybe it’s from her high-profile relationship with former NFL star Eric Decker and their reality TV show, Eric & Jessie: Game Over, which ran from 2013 to 2017. 

Now, Jessie James Decker and her mother, Karen Parker, are opening up about their experience being a part of a military family by partnering with Rocket. Growing up, Jessie’s father served in the Air Force, while her mom held down the fort at home. On this Military Spouse Appreciation Day, the mother-daughter duo is recalling their time from those days. 

Woman’s World sat down with Jessie and Karen to talk about their meaningful connection to Military Spouse Appreciation Day and why it was a privilege to be a part of a military family. 

Woman’s World: Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day — tell me about what this day means to the both of you and why you want to share that on such an important day.

Jessie James Decker: I partnered with Rocket because this, I mean, it was the perfect fit. I grew up as a military brat my entire life, and so it’s been such a blessing and such an honor to be a part of a military family. And it’s even more special that I’m doing this with my mom. My mom is a military spouse and we moved around quite a bit, but we were always going on all these really amazing adventures, and my mom was able to make our home, every time we moved, feel just like home. It was truly special. 

Karen Parker: One of the great things too, is that whenever you move around, you probably want to put some roots down, and getting that mortgage is so important. And I feel like Rocket makes it easy. It’s a very easy process, especially to utilize our VA loans.

I think it’s a privilege being a military spouse because I get to watch firsthand, my husband and all the other service members out there protecting our country. So we did move around quite a bit, and that’s one of the challenges that you face… but we are just so blessed to have been able to have such a wonderful life.

WW: I’d love to hear about what it was like for you, Jessie, growing up in a military family and then for you Karen, having to hold down the fort.

Decker: For me, it’s all I knew. I didn’t know any different. And we moved all the time and every time we did, it was like going on a new adventure… my mom used to take us to the public library, and would get books about the next place we were going to move. So we learned about them and would get excited about it. Mom always had a great way of getting us hyped about the new place we were going, and all the new friends and all the new experiences, new environment…and meeting other fellow military brats is always great, because you’re in this club together.

Parker: It was a privilege…of course, there are so many challenges involved: You’ve got to get a new pediatrician, you’ve got to go to new schools, put the kids in new sports, and sometimes deal with getting them acclimated into a new community. But I feel like it all comes down to ‘What are we doing this for?’ We’re doing this for our military spouse. We are doing this for the safety of our country…the least that we can do is keep those home fires burning and take care of our families and make a beautiful home so when they come home safe and sound, we can all sit around that dinner table together and live in that beautiful moment of knowing everyone’s safe and sound at home.

WW: It takes a lot of strength to be a part of a military family — do you feel that it made you stronger individually and as a family?

Decker: Absolutely. It made me so close to my family. It certainly made me even closer to my siblings. We were three best friends. We are closer than maybe a lot of siblings I’ve seen because we were in this together, and it made our family really close. It has taught me a lot of values. We sit at the dinner table every night together and say our prayers, and we are so tight.

WW: With Mother’s Day days away, this holiday must have you appreciating your mom more than ever. How do you plan to celebrate either or both holidays?

Decker: We are all gonna go to this Italian restaurant that we all love so much all together. It’s gonna be me and Mama and my sister, my sister in law, Allie, and the husbands are coming. We’re all gonna go celebrate, have a big Italian feast. Hopefully we’ll have a frozen Espresso Martini at the end.