Here's a shout-out to the most over-looked people serving our country: the military brats. Though our parents are the ones truly taking orders and doing productive things as part of our navy, air-force and army, their children sacrifice many things in order to support us. Being an air-force brat myself, I can relate. My father has served the air-force long before I was born.
When I was born in Virginia, I had no time to make memories there. We moved so soon afterwards, that I don't even know which town I lived in! I think it might've had some president's name attached to it or something; Virginia is all patriotic like that.
As service goes, military members get stationed in all sorts of different places, enough so that we make jokes about having to live in every state at least once before graduating high school. Funny as that may be, it can be hard to move all the time. Whenever you go to a different school, you see people who have been friends and neighbors since kindergarten. It can get more than a little lonely being the new kid every other year. Sometimes people joke about the places you've lived and slap a stereotype onto you based on the state. Coming out of California, people thought I was some kind of beach hippy. Moving from Georgia, people wondered why I didn't have that southern drawl. Accents come up in conversation a lot more than you'd think; being a component of one's identity and a marker of where they've lived. People have actually commented on my lack of a distinctive accent to which I have no reply.
Sometimes it can be hard when moving away. Things finally begin to feel settled when you receive the news that, two years into this state, you've got to pack up again and go across the country. Like, cut me some slack — I just finished unpacking the last box! Now I'm older and more comfortable with moving. Sure, it's an adventure moving somewhere new, but the more often I did, the less connected I felt with the place I was living. I lost friends and didn't seem to care. I was always the one reaching out before and if they wouldn't put in an effort, I cut them out without a second thought. I put up with bullying because I knew I just had to wait a year and I'd be somewhere beyond their reach, off to a new set of bullies to wait them out. Turns out they're everywhere and they love new meat.
So, here's to the military brats! Here's to those who've never felt at home! Here's to the children who struggle to connect with their environments! We're not alone as long as we have each other.
