When I was growing up, my dad was in the Air Force. Nearly all of the schools I attended until college had a connection to the military. We were all kids of men and women in the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy. I remember being friends with someone for a year, and then the next year they would have moved. It was all pretty normal, and as kids we often felt that we didn't have much of a voice. Nowadays, my dad is retired from the military, but we still move a lot — and this year we began the process of moving after Christmas. I was feeling bummed out as if some of the Christmas spirit was being wiped away, but I was also feeling a ton of other things. Scroll down the page to see some of the things that I and other military kids (or people who move often) experience:
10. Feeling bad if you have close friends, because you know you'll have to leave them behind.
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9. Either avoiding the opposite sex, or not taking them seriously.
Avoid attractive males as much as possible because if you fall in love there's no point —you're moving anyway, probably to somewhere far, far away from him. Save yourself the time. It's called flirting, and it keeps hearts from being broken.
8. Some places you don't have friends.
7. You switch schools often and face difficulties as the newcomer each time.
6.You know that real-life adventures aren't as likely to happen as on T.V.
5. People think it's cool that you travel the world, but you don't.
4. You know so many different foods.
You know that the cuisine changes from the North to the South, and even throughout regions of a country.
3. You both love and hate being in the same place for too long.
2. You're likely to know more than one, if not at least three languages.
1. You collect things for when you get "home".
You move around so much you actually start dreaming of something called "your own room" and how you would decorate it. Also around this time you develop a passionate love affair with Pinterest, as you imagine all the ways your next home will look and how long you will live there.
The life of a military kid is a unique one that cannot be replicated. It can be exciting or it can be lonely. You can't know what it's like to move around a lot unless if you do, but the feelings and experiences I have listed will give you a head start into understanding what we go through, both the good and the bad.
