I have been an Army brat since I was 6 years old and I have loved every second of it. It has been very tough at times, but I have learned several lessons about life. Here are just a few of those lessons I have learned:

Time is everything

Deployments, training, schooling, late nights at the office, it is all the worst. My dad has missed several birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries and it is terrible. The days that your family is supposed to be together, someone is missing. Through all of the separation I have learned that when my dad is home and our family is together, it is important to take advantage of that time.

Family is not about blood

When you're moving from place to place you are meeting people constantly. When you need a babysitter, someone to run errands with, and people to keep you sane. In some instances, those families become your best friends. They become the people you travel to spend holidays with, people you open your home to when they are passing through, and they become the people who you feel you've known your whole life. You gain an amazing support system through the friendships formed over the years.

You are much tougher than you think

A military child goes through hard situations that most children never have to even think about. We have to worry about our parent(s) coming home safe, or at all, from a foreign country. We deal with new beginnings all of the time, leaving friends behind and starting new schools. All of it can be overwhelming and at times very scary, but it makes you realize that you are strong and you can overcome anything.

Being flexible and adaptable

With all the craziness around the military lifestyle, you learn to be flexible. Change is all too familiar to you and it becomes something that you're used to. When your family gets stationed somewhere new you make the best of it. You explore new places, travel, experience things you wouldn't be able to if you hadn't moved. There will be duty stations you don't like but you learn that those are the places you discover some of the best parts of life.

The world is a big place

When you are moving from coast to coast, country to country, you get to explore the world. Being stationed in California for four years allowed my family to visit San Francisco, Las Vegas, Disneyland, Universal Studios, and all of these really cool places we wouldn't have been able to travel to if we were still living in Alabama. Being able to travel opened my eyes to how big the world truly is, and if it weren't for the Army I would not have the sense of adventure I have now.

Whether you were born into it, married into it, or chose to enlist, there are so many things to be discovered through this great life. The military life is not one all people can handle, if you can, take full advantage of it and all the life experiences it will bring you.