army brat

A week or so ago (or maybe even longer) Kiera, from Imperfect Daisies, asked me to blog about my experience growing up in a military family. Honestly, I didn't mean to put off talking about it this long, I have been trying to gather up all my thoughts on the subject and figuring out how I could format it in the most clear way. Kiera I hope this answers your question! Sorry if it is a little long winded.

To give you a little background, my parents were both in the Army, in fact they met at the Officer's Club bar while stationed in San Francisco. My mom was only in for 6 years after college but my dad was in for over 20 year and retired when I was in high school (he now works for a non-profit organization.) Naturally we moved around a lot, the school I went to for 6th grade was also my 6th school since kindergarten, but when we moved to Maryland we ended up staying. So I was able to go to middle and high school in the same area. Also, fortunately for our family, because of the time frame and the role that he had during Desert Storm my dad was never went "off to war." What I am trying to point out with all this is that I think my experience was pretty different than army brats today. And I was also very fortunate that I didn't have to change schools during high school or middle school which from what I heard (and can imagine) is a lot more traumatic.

So what was hard about being an army brat?

• Moving around of course. It sucks having to leave friends no matter how old or young you are. Also my sister and I would get involved with an activity like gymnastics or a ballet and have to leave and start over somewhere else.


• Missing out on the experience of having a "hometown." I can't help but feeling a little jealous of people that have friends from elementary school that they still hang out with. Or those people that lived in the same house from the time they came home from the hospital until they went off to college.
  

And what were the good things?

• Getting to see (and live in) lots of different parts of the country. My family never was stationed overseas...unless you want to count Hawaii!


• Forming a close bond with your family, especially siblings. There was a lot of times when I moved to a new area in the summer and only had my sister to play with. It made us very close. In fact when we settled in Maryland and got involved with different things it actually was a little sad. I also feel like my family is close because we spent a lot of time together and had some different adventures. Of course we still do spend a lot of time together so I'm not sure the Army had a lot to do with that!


• Growing up on Army bases also is a really good environment because everyone is in the same situation. To me it didn't seem as competitive about money and people seem to care more about each other/their neighbors.


• The fact that my dad was in the Army also meant we had the means for my mom to stay at home with us which I feel is very important!

So there is my little...or not so little...summery! If anyone has any questions on this subject please let me know!

my worst airport experience

(no this didn't happen to me)

Maybe the cure for writers block is simply writing about it because as soon as I posted it last week the creative juices started flowing (isn't that one of the grossest sounding expressions ever by the way? Something about it just seems nasty.)

That being said I really liked Jenny DB's suggestion to write about my worst airport experience ever. So here we go...although this story is more about getting to the airport.

Because my dad was in the army and we lived all over the place I spent a lot of time on plane, until I was around 9 and we moved back to the East Coast. From then on pretty much my only mode of transportation for trips was car. I have spent waaay too many hours of my life in the car with my family driving from Florida to Massachusetts and everywhere in between. But, that is another story...

I don't think I really had the opportunity or the need to fly again until I was in college. And this event happened one of those times.

My parents and brother were going to drive to Myrtle Beach and visit some relatives during his school spring break then driving to Massachusetts to see my grandparents (see, they love to drive) for Easter. My sister was in her freshman year at Boston College and I was in my senior year of college so I decided to fly up for Easter with them and spent a couple days with her in Boston beforehand.

The plan was for me to drive to the Philadelphia airport from school then fly to Boston and drive back to Philly with my parents after Easter and pick up my car. I had never driven myself to an airport before or even been to the Philly airport so printed out my little mapquest directions and left right after my class.

Everything is going fine until I get into Philly (or wherever the airport actually is.) First of all...there is traffic. My plane is scheduled to leave in like an hour and a half. Then somehow I am completely turned around...there are signs for the airport all around me, tons of those off-site independently run long term parking lots, and planes flying overhead but I can not find the airport.

I call my parents, trying not to panic and ask my dad if he knows his way around this airport at all. They are at a bar in Myrtle Beach...and not so helpful. My mom tells me to ask someone...but everyone wandering around the streets look a bit sketchy.

Somehow I find the airport and head for the long term parking lot...it's full. I had seen the off-site parking lots while lost and set off again to try and find my way back to them. The clock is ticking and I am certain I will miss my plane.

I get to a parking lot, grab my stuff and literally run to the shuttle which is about to pull out. I'm out of breath and about to cry but I have made it. Or so I think...

The check-in goes smoothly but the line for security is absolutely insane. It wraps around almost the whole airport.

Finally I get through and sprint to the gate. I have about 10 minutes before take off, I know I can make it. Then I get to the gate...

The flight was delayed...about 2 hours. Sigh. I get some overpriced food and settled into an uncomfortably airport chair.


While this definitely wasn't the worst thing I have heard of happening to someone at the airport for me I will always remember this day. It's one of those times when I really started to feel like an adult and realized that I could take care of myself.


What's your worst airport experience?