militarymoms

I had to visit to my safe deposit box this week.  Fortunately, we’re stationed near the box’s location right now; some years I am too far away to put things into the box that belong there. 

It’s always an adventure, opening the safe deposit box.  My daughter was along on this trip and she enjoyed looking at the coins, jewelry and papers.  The whole experience got me thinking about the items I carry from place to place and the items I keep in the box, even when we’re on another continent.

I have been dragging some strange items from house to house for 23 years.  Military life, with its accompanying moves and deployments, causes moms like me to acquire an unusual inventory of household goods.  I started making a list of the items most civilian moms don’t need, and I thought I’d share it with you.

• Duplicate appliances.  I own two blenders, two coffee makers (I don’t drink coffee), two manual can openers and three irons.  Why?  So I can put one in my household goods shipment and keep one with me as we travel to the next duty station.  Exception: the coffee makers.  One goes onboard the ship.
• Updated shot cards.  I have complete immunization records for everyone in my family and I guard them like they are gold plated.  Why?  Well, my own immunization records were lost when I was about 10, so I know just what it’s like to have to prove that you were, indeed, given all those childhood vaccines.  Throw in the military move factor and those records become even more important.  I’ll never, ever trust a doctor’s office to keep them safe.
• Curtains that don’t fit any window in my home.  I have several sets of curtains that I cart from state to state.  They won’t work in this house?  That’s okay, we’ll move soon and I can probably use them in the next beige-walled residence.
• Approximately one million guest towels.  Well, not really, but I have quite a few sets.  We regularly host military friends and I never have to worry about having enough bath towels to go around.  (I have lots of extra pillows, too.)
• Cardboard boxes by the dozen.  I have all the original boxes for my TVs, small appliances and computers, with styrofoam and twist ties.  I have boxes I use only for packing my crystal and china when we move.  I have boxes for mailing things to family in other states.  I have extra boxes in case my houseguests want to send something home instead of carrying it on the plane.  My friend Michelle calls me “Box Woman of the Universe.”

I suppose I could live without these things if I had to - after all, I’ve camped out in a completely empty house with borrowed sleeping bags more than once - but they do make my life easier.  And, when so much of military life involves things that moms like me can’t control, it’s nice to think that at least I have enough washcloths to go around.

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