1) A business trip is just a business trip! Lots of times military spouses refer to deployment work ups or week long training exercises as "business trips." In the civilian world they really are called business trips. To top it off, guess what....phones and usually internet connection are included!!!!
2) People in this alternate world don't usually talk about their life in 2-3 year chunks. That is completely foreign speak! Most of the time, they talk about graduating from high school, going to college or trade school or finding that first "real" job. When I talk about our life it usually revolves around duty stations. For us it begins at Quantico, then we lived at Lejeune, then Lejeune again, then Benning, then Rochester, then Lejeune again. Our entire life in 6 nice to manage time periods. Pretty handy actually!
3) When you start speaking with letters and numbers you get funny looks. Most of the world does not use acrynoms in every day speak. "Oh, you are dropping your child off at the CDC while you are packing to do a DITY when you PCS." Yeah, that is not a normal sentence. Neither is, "Call me when your husband gets back from CAX, mine is currently TDY at TBS." Or, "Where is 1/2? Oh they are on K street down past building 2." HUH? (MY DISCLAIMER: I totally just made up those sentences to see how many acronyms I could pack into them for effect. You usually don't hear them all at the same time. But in a conversation, you might hear a bunch :)
4) People have lived in the same place FOREVER. I mean their Mama lives down the road and their grandma lives two doors beyond that. They rarely, if ever, have had to pay for a baby sitter because family is abundant. The first home they bought, IS their forever home. Or, if they have moved it is to chase a better job, or a job closer to family. When talking about our life more the once I have seen tears in their eyes. Just the tought of living how you live and doing what you do, even just the logistics of it all is mind blowing. They have mad respect and secretly, are so thankful it wasn't them. And, honestly, when you are on the other side and you think back on your military spouse years you will wonder how you did it too!
5) Your military friends think you are crazy for leaving and the civilians don't quite understand you......yet. It's not an easy transition. Breaking into friendship circles is hard. In the military spouse world friendships happen super fast. They must. There is a deployment or a field exercise right around the corner and you are going to find yourself needing to be in two or three places at the same time! You move so often and you need each other quickly. Family isn't around and your military spouses fill in the gaps. They become your family. In the civilian world that world is established. Trust isn't easily given and you might have to "prove" yourself just a little bit. But those friendships built slowly and steadily will become just as precious as your military spouse friendships, and taking the time to sit back and enjoy the ride is what I have come to appreciate. I mean, isn't is all one chaotic adventure anyway?
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