Reality Check? NNNAAAHHH

I'm tired. Not sure exactly why, except of course for a very long plane ride and a dynamic change of routine and time zone. I am glad to be back temporarily in the land of gas in the $2 range again. Although as much as I was glad to see those mountains, and breathe the dry air again, I realized today when I went grocery shopping, how completely, totally, without a doubt, out of place I am. Walking into the WalMart I exclaimed to DD that she wasn't allowed to sit in the back of the cart, or the MP's(military police) might come arrest her... people around me were staring awkwardly my direction. It dawned on me then, that there wasn't a MP around for miles and miles and miles, nor did any of the people around me have any idea what I was talking about. How eagerly I strolled the aisles of the Super wally-world, commenting about prices, giddy with excitement over things I hadn't been able to eat in years, and while checking out, had to stop myself, when I reached back to my wallet to hand the bagger a tip. I don't think that is acceptable in normal society. I don't know any more if I am acceptable in normal society. Entering the airport terminal, carrying an ACU assault pack, full of snacks and toys, didn't seem that odd in a place where so many military members travel all the time.Landing was a different story. I bounced along toting my carry-on, not realizing for a few minutes that what the people were staring at around us...was, well....US. Me with DH's assault pack, DD wearing her dog tags and her MY Daddy MY Hero shirt she had to change in to on the plane, we looked like foreigners from a different land.... I was being stared at as if I was running naked through the airport exclaiming that my hair was on fire. We were the epitome of a slightly odd mixture of the classic US Army "Ready" Pin-up and a Norman Rockwell painting. I was the apple pie.
A military base is routinely called "the fish bowl." It has good meaning behind it. We live, work,play, laugh,and cry all in the same place. With all of the same people. We live so close together, I swear I can taste my neighbors cooking through the paper thin walls. There is some good in this. As odd as it seems to people on the outside of the fish bowl, there's comfort in common waters. Just like a school of fish, if a shark comes a knockin... well ,we band together and kick the shit out of it! It's just more evidence of the two completely different worlds.It can be tough at times to retain an individual identity, when everyone around you can seem so uniform (get it?uniform? LOL..I'm lame, I know) Especially when you are automatically judged as a military wife, for BEING a military wife. There are a number of pre-fabricated categories as a mil spouse that you are automatically chucked into within the first few months of arriving to a new duty station. Those are the categories other Army wives put you into. That doesn't even include the civilians.I'll talk about those categories again later on in a different blog. Let's just say, I have foiled a number of Army Wifey formalities in my term as a military spouse, ones that include almost getting into a fist fight with a drunk pilots wife, in front of the commander, who happened to be laughing, then winked at me and said "I think you could take her." I have had my blunders and faux paux's as a military wife, and I am sure they will continue as long as we are in.
Through all of this, even the fact that I feel like an alien from outer space , it's strangely calming to be here. Well, ok, inside the house at least. Outside of the house...well I am a bit lost. I keep looking for a twenty-four hour shopette.... they got those things here, but did you know they call them 7-11's???? I know! WIERD! That's what I said! Tomorrow I will awaken to a beautiful desert sunrise,wish for the Hawaiian sun,and dream about the snow on Mt.Rainer........ How very eclectic. Ah, well, until then, I will remain the odd ball out when I leave the house. Tomorrow I attempt to go to the gym...by myself. LOL..... I am a fish out of the fishbowl...lets see if I can stumble my way around land for a few days!