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Military Life: What’s on YOUR list?

It’s finally happened. I’ve been a military spouse for so long that I don’t usually think of this crazy-making lifestyle as much different from what my civilian friends and family members go through.  But it is.  And so to celebrate that fact, here are my top 25 ways you know you’re a military spouse.

1. You can call cadence.
2. You’ve helped your servicemember study for a school.
3. You’ve boasted about your exploits at a G.I. Jane Day, and you know that G.I. is an acronym for general issue.
4. You keep “to do” lists from previous moves because “why reinvent the wheel?”
5. You’ve done the happy dance after months of waiting when the “orders fairy” finally landed.
6. Your grocery store, department store, gas station, social service agency, post office, convenience store, insurance company and most visited websites are all military-run sites and you like it that way.
7. You’ve read a campaign plan.
8. You’ve had dinner conversations debating points out of a white paper.
9. You know what a white paper is.
10. You’ve developed an acronym board game.
11. You played “duty station” charades at your last party.
12. You’re fluent in cooking foreign cuisine even though you can’t fluently speak the language.
13. Someone has lovingly called you a “senior spouse.”
14. Your Christmas card list is miles long.
15. Your passport rivals that of the best jetsetters.
16.  You’ve got more sets of curtains than you have windows.
17.  You’ve taken a box to a garage sale simply because you hadn’t opened it in months and figured you must not be too attached to whatever is in it.
18. You routinely play “I’ve been there” during the evening world news.
19. You’ve got important documents in hardcopy, on disk, jump drive and in a web-based backup system.
20. You taught your grandkids to Skype rather than the other way around.
21. You’ve legally driven 100 miles per hour.
22. You laugh at life’s challenges simply because “it’s better than crying.”
23. You’ve bitten your tongue so hard you were sure you drew blood.
24. You wonder when Facebook is going to add “military” to their list of languages.
25. Telling time on a 24-hour clock no longer requires subtraction.

The funny thing about this list, aside from the fact that it’s all true, is that it’s by no means exhaustive. (Eaten a holiday meal in a DFAC, annually celebrate holidays not a part of your native culture).  And my list goes on!  So, what’s on your list?  We’d like to know! Please post YOUR list on our Facebook page at facebook.com/redriverfamily.

Lisa Jansen-Rees is a military wife and mom.  Together they have travelled the world in true military fashion.