I realize I haven't posted many "adventures" lately. That's because life feels fairly boring. We're settled. We're in a house. We're experiencing something close to "suburban life" and it isn't nearly as exciting as Wisteria Lane over here. . .

Of course, maybe that's just because I've adjusted.

I didn't bat an eye when the guard gates were wearing their M4s across their chest (an M4 is an assault rifle, if you don't know) yesterday when I was coming home from the grocery store. Afterward, I thought, "Wow, that was kind of weird." Not that they were wearing them, but that it felt so normal. I mean, most people don't have to get cleared by someone in ABUs with a pistol on their thigh and an assault rifle across their chest, just to get home to put the groceries away. Yet, we do, and it's somehow normal.

It's also become very normal to hang out and have intimate conversations with people I've just met. There's an instant bond between military wives. It's different than the bond of, say, attending the same college or even going to the same church. With military wives, there is an instant camaraderie and friendship based on mutual experience, and that's really cool.



Everyone always asks me, "Is it like Army Wives?" I always laugh. . . because the answer is both yes and no. It's nothing like Army Wives. And it's totally like Army Wives. It isn't nearly as dramatic or crazy. Life is a lot more laid back and less centered on the military. We wives certainly don't always look like we stepped out of a magazine (it's way more likely to see a wife wearing flip flops and a baggy t shirt to the commissary than one of Claudia Joy's gorgeous dresses). Apparently, some of the military details are wrong. . . I wouldn't know anything about that personally, but I hear that often. :) Yet, a lot of the dynamics are there. Sadly, you do occasionally get a  Lenore Baker, Marilyn Polarski, or Jennifer Connor (characters on Army Wives, for those who don't know-- don't want to give the impression that I'm calling out actual people by name, haha). You have some bickering and squabbling and wives trying to be "in charge". You have the politics and the "good ol' boy" system of the military.

BUT, on the positive side, you have wives who would do anything for each other, who are there in a heartbeat when needed, and who support each other through all of the craziness. . . wives who throw baby showers for women they've just met, take meals to wives who are sick, and who drop everything to be there for wives whose husbands are deployed. So no, it's not like Army Wives, and yes, it's a lot like Army Wives. . and mostly in good ways, if you look for the good. :)