In the military, moving is the name of the game. You rack up bases and PCSs almost like points in the game of life. Moving can also be exhausting. You move, find friends, get settled, and surprise! It’s time to move again, but I found I especially appreciate this military rhythm of moving because I had never moved to a new place before my husband joined the military.
Where everybody knows your name
I grew up in a small school system with the same classmates, kindergarten through twelfth. So when a new kid moved in, they didn’t know anything about us, and we didn’t know anything about them. I imagined what it would be like to be the new girl- to make friends with a fresh start. People who don’t know about the ridiculous thing that happened in 2nd grade, or about the time I cracked my heel by cartwheeling into a locker. Which makes for a great story now, but at the time? Not so much.
When I went off to college, it felt like a new adventure, and I realized I had a fresh slate, I could take the lessons I had learned in the past and apply them to new friendships. When my husband Jeremy decided to enlist, I realized I would have the opportunity every two to six years to be the new girl, and I was elated.
Oh, the Possibilities!
I like to think of the Air Force as a follow-the-leader adventure. Each base is an opportunity to learn a new lesson. To meet someone who will teach me something new, or help me grow. There are memories to be made, and a whole life to be lived at each base. So when you go to the next place, you are ready to start anew and apply what you learned at your last station.
The military world is at the same time small and vast. People we met in Hawaii, are now stationed with us in Lackland. We can also make new connections across the globe through a friend of a friend.
So if you’ve never moved before and you’re nervous about military life, it’s an adventure, but you’re making homes all over the world and growing roots as you go. It’s almost as if the more you move in the military, the closer to home you can be.