So....Where are you from?

The typical army wife would answer this question with ease. Where she is from, thats easy - its where her parents are, where she grew up, where all of her best friends still live. For others, such as myself, who grew up in the army - not so much. But this isnt about us wives, its about our former army brat selves, or our army brat children, or anyone else who grew up in the army, moving every few years, making "home" the place where the army sent you - dealing not only with the every day challenges that growing up presents, but also challenges such as changing schools, friends, and even countries.

Growing up this way was wonderful - most of the time. I wouldnt change it for anything now, in fact, I am practically addicted to moving (good thing my DH is in the Army!) - but there was the occasional time when I would HATE that life. It had nothing to do with Dad being gone - I was always proud of him, always understanding of those times he had to be gone, and I knew it was something special, something to look up to. My unhappiness had more to do with the fact that the common TV show showed girls who had been best friends since they were diapers. People who all lived in the same town since they were born - going to 1 high school (instead of 3) - normal people, living a normal life. I didnt choose to live the army life(at least I hadnt yet), and at times, i didnt want it.

By far the most challenging part was when people would ask that dreaded question..."Where are you from?" For us brats, that could mean so many different things. Do you mean where was I born? or perhaps which place I lived the longest... or maybe you would like to know which place was my favorite? Where I live now? Where my parents currently live? hmmmm...typical answers: "Its a long story", "I'm from everywhere"... "I'm from nowhere"... or "Im from the Army" - yeah, I can still see the confused looks I would get. Now, what was meant as a harmless question has made me feel like an outcast...someone who doesnt "have" a home - at least not in the form of the typical cookie-cutter answer the poor person who asked was expecting. Now I've gotten myself into some big explanation that is not only going to give more information then I cared to give  this person cared to know -but its almost guaranteed to end with an "Aw, I'm sorry. That must have sucked growing up that way - how hard!". Well gee, now I feel swell, thanks stranger....What was more, was when I would go into an explanation - explaining all of the places I lived, at which post (letting them know which state or country that it was in), and for how long -in the order that I lived at them, was some of the answers I would get.  The funniest answer I ever got was in college, sitting outside the dorm:
Her: "So wait.... all your life you lived on posts?"
ME: "Mmhmm. I loved living on post - kind of miss it."
Her: "................so...... all of your houses were on stilts?"

Now it took me a minute to figure out what she was asking, and when it clicked, I couldnt help but crack up! The poor dear thought all of our houses were raised up on stilts - aka - big wooden posts...like the kind beach houses are on to protect them from the rising water! Good grief, were people really that clueless as to what the army was? Or how military people lived?

Well...to answer your question:

Arizona
Delaware
Hawaii
Georgia
Colorado
Georgia
Virginia
New York
Kansas
Texas
Hawaii
Germany
Hawaii
Georgia
Rhode Island
Tennessee/Kentucky

I guess such is the life of the army wife brat!

For more accounts and opinions about growing up as a brat - i found this great article!

 

Dinner Suggestion: Buffalo Chicken Ring, Dip, and Egg Rolls!

 First, lets start with the base of all three recipes - The buffalo chicken filling. You need one of these for each recipe - ring, dip, or egg rolls - it wont make them all (unless you triple it!) :)

1 large (pre-cooked) rotisserie chicken - like the kind from the deli section
8 oz cream cheese
1 stalk of celery
1 packet of ranch seasoning
1/4 cup of ranch dressing
1/2 - 1 cup (depending on your heat level) of Franks Wing Sauce (or Texas Pete...or your favorite recipe!)

First, take all of the skin off of the chicken and shred all of the meat and put into a large bowl. Chop the celery into small pieces and add to the chicken. Then add the Wing sauce and mix together.

In a separate bowl, add the cream cheese (room temperature), the ranch seasoning, and the ranch dressing and mix together.

Combine the ingredients of both bowls and stir until well mixed. Filling = done.

To make DIP:

Spread the filling into a baking dish (I usually use my 9x13 casserole dish) and top with 2-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 min or until the cheese is melted. Serve with Frito scoops or Tortilla chips. YUMMO!










To make the Egg Rolls:

 Buy either fresh or frozen egg rolls - I used about 30 5x5 frozen egg rolls that I thawed for an hour first. Put about 2-3 tablespoons of filling into the middle of the egg roll. fold in one corner, then the two corners on each side of the already folded corner, then roll. Add a little water to the last corner to help it seal. You can either bake for fry these - Fry, heat the oil to 400 and fry for a few min. until golden. If baking, put on a cooling rack, on a cookie sheet so the heat can go all around. Spray each roll with natural cooking spray so they have a little oil on them. Bake at 400 for 8-10 min, until golden brown. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping! (I like to bake mine, and then in a skillet, add just a little oil and "fry" them for just a min to crisp up the shell a bit!)

To make the Ring: 

You need 2 packages of cresent rolls (8 in each package). Open the cresent rolls, and tear along the seams, separating the cresent rolls into pairs. They should look like rectangles - and you should have 4 cresent rectangles from each package. Take all 8 rectangles, and lay them in a circle on a lightly greased cookie sheet - leaving the whole in the middle big enough to fit a bottle of wine - about a 3- 4 in diameter in the middle. I like to slightly layer each piece on top of each other, fanning it out evenly in a circle. Next, scoop the filling onto the ring, evenly spreading it around the ring, leaving about 1/2 in space next to the center, and a few inches to the outer edge (pile it high, not wide) Next, fold over the outer edge of the cresent roll, and pinch it to the inner edge - covering all of the filling. Bake according to the cresent roll directions - until lightly golden brown. Let it cool and rest before slicing - then cut and enjoy! (we usually use a plate and fork!)

*A bit of honesty - The RING and the EGG ROLLS are modified from recipes I found on pinterest (gotta give credit where credit is due!) - and they have better step by step pictures of what we did here - but seriously, use my filling! YUMMO!


ENJOY!!!

- the army wife