The Brat Life

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I'm often surprised at the things my kids pick up from their Dad. After all, he's really gone quite often. And yet, somehow, he is one of the most powerful influences in their every day life. I also mention that little fact to my husband quite often, to reassure him when the TDYs and deployments add up to depressing amounts of time gone.

But it's the little things they do that surprise me and often crack me up.

Take, for instance, our current voyage to California to combine a visit to family with SpouseBUZZ Live this weekend at Camp Pendleton.



The three kids we still have living at home were all responsible for bringing me the clothes that needed to be packed for the trip. Imagine the expression on my face when all three of them (ages 11, 9, and 6) proceeded to then put their clothes - outfit by outfit, including socks and underwear - into gallon size ziploc containers for easy access. They even sat on the bags to get all the air out of them!

This is definitely a habit the kids picked up from Air Force Guy, who has that constantly packed bag sitting in our basement for short notice trips. And everything in that bag is hermetically sealed into it's own waterproof ziploc baggie system.

Then there's the whole Camel Bak issue in our family...

And I was so excited when in a discussion with Guard Wife I learned that her youngest daughter has the same habit as my son of pointing with her entire hand. I don't know when my son picked that up, but I do know whom he picked it up from.

It's no secret that deployments and TDYs and the general hectic pace of being a family in the military lifestyle can create a plethora of issues and frustrations. We all wonder and worry - about our spouses, about our children, about the future. That's why it reassures me so much when I see my children reflecting so many things that are such a prominent part of my husband's personality and life.

He is not always home, but he is a part of them, absolutely.


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