Home is Where the Army Sends You

What I want for myself is adventure and new experiences, what I want for my boys is a consistent home. Often in the military, you don’t get what you want; but I do get half of what I want. We are a very lucky military family, we don’t move every 3 or so years. We will stay here for a long time. This past Christmas was the first time in 10 years that we’d had a Christmas in the same house for 2 consecutive years. It was great.

On the other hand, I like moving around, I like exploring and finding new ways to do things. I like living in different houses, it’s like rearranging the furniture…big time. I suppose it’s my personality, or the fact that I have a difficult time making friends. The longer I live someplace the more aware I become that I haven’t made any friends.

Our first duty station, as a family, was Heidelberg Germany. I could not have been more excited to go. L was 18 months when we finally got there, D had been there several months before we arrived. I was ready to explore, learn German, and only wear dark clothes. I quickly learned that it was not a vacation, it was life. There were bills to pay, groceries to buy, an apartment to clean, and soon 2 young children to care for. We call H our German souvenir.



We did go on one vacation while we lived in Germany, back to the U.S. for my sister’s wedding! I was 7 months pregnant at the time and my dad kept telling the same joke over and over: “What does this baby and my chainsaw have in common?........They were both made in Germany!” My dad seriously loves his chainsaw.





I only saw two castles while we were there, and never made it to France, or to Munich in September. I did learn a little German, a very little, and mostly related to driving. I did drive on the autobahn (just once by mistake!)

Now we are in Virginia, in our own house. I am thrilled that my boys will have a consistent home. I suppose I should work on making some friends, but rearranging the furniture is easier.