A few years ago I was painting the bedrooms of our home in Virginia. My husband’s orders were coming up soon, so with the anticipation of selling our home and moving in about a year, I started the prep work early. A friend (non-military) at church asked me why I was prepping so early.

"I’ve been itching to move for over three years, because our normal rotation is every two years. The fact that we’ve been here for over five years already has me ready to purge, clean, paint, organize, and move.”

After she kindly tried to hide her confusion, she asked, “Do you guys know where you are going?”

I said, “No, not yet, but that’s pretty normal.”

Behind her smile I could see her anxiety rising. And then the comment came that we hear all too often, “I don’t know how you do it.”

45+ Ways You Know You’re a Military Wife

I sometimes forget how weird our world is to our non-military friends. It’s fun to laugh about all the ridiculous stories and experiences with our military sisters because they understand, but to the rest of society our normal is anything but average.

Over the years, I’ve been posting a series on Instagram and it has become quite popular. I get comments every week from other military wives sharing their stories.

And that’s the goal.

I hope you get a good laugh from this list, but mostly I hope it encourages you to share your experiences. To share your story, because if we can’t learn from others, we can’t grow.

You Might Be A Military Wife If…

you know your husband’s social security number better than your own
your children have never met the emergency contact listed on the school form
you have boxes of curtains to match the various homes you’ve lived in
you panic at the gas pump when asked for your zip code
your toddler thinks everyone in uniform is Daddy
you schedule getting pregnant around when your husband should be home for the birth
your husband uses 4 acronyms in one sentence
you mentally categorize your memories by duty station
you have pantry items from a grocery store across the country
you give a deer in the headlights expression when someone asks where you are from
you ordered something and it was delivered to your previous house
the closet is 51% uniforms
all your kids are born in different states
your blonde haired blue-eyed toddler thinks he is Japanese
you ask when your husband is leaving again 3 days after he gets home
you call your husband’s friends by their last names
your kid names his new stuffed animal after the ship your husband is attached to
a lump in your throat appears when you hear the national anthem
your dining room is a temporary gear locker
you’ve given birth without your husband
you celebrate more holidays with friends than family
you have a rainbow of moving stickers under all your furniture
you need a keypad to remember your ssn but can sing his in your sleep
your family calendar is in pencil
you get antsy after 18 months in one place
you’ve driven two hours to meet your husband for lunch
you have at least one box that never gets unpacked
you have friends all over the world
you are in the habit of checking uniform pockets for pens before laundry day
you’ve waited in line at the Commissary on payday
you can rock hotel life while waiting for housing to become available
your husband can’t watch a military action movie without picking apart every single incorrect detail
you don’t know which state or country you’ll be living in next year
you have ever had to do time zone math before calling your bestie
you have a different military affiliated t-shirt for every day of the week
you send saucy emails to a .mil address because he can’t have his phone
you get safety briefs before vacation
you have tons of gear in your garage that he will never use again but you can’t get rid of
you trip over combat boots DAILY
you Google Map your favorite stores/restaurants to see if they’re near the new duty station
the weight of his uniform feels heavy sometimes
you get excited when you run into someone you know at the grocery store
saying “goodbye” feels too terminal, so you say “see you later” instead
you have home décor from around the world
your licenses and registrations have different addresses
birthday parties are just your family because you recently PCSed
your kids say “yes sir,” “yes ma’am,” “copy,” and “roger”
you have helped your husband search for PT gear at o-dark-thirty
serving cereal for dinner is acceptable AND encouraged

Yes, our military life can feel absolutely ridiculous at times, but let’s remember why we are all here. We fell in love with a man in uniform and as long as he is by our side, we can do hard things.

Are there any you would add to this list? Leave them in the comments :)