Growing up Overseas

I am the daughter of an Army Officer. For my entire life we moved and were transferred from one town to another or from one country to another. It was a privilege to grow up seeing many different areas of our beautiful United States of America. It was also a privilege to grow up and live in foreign countries where we had opportunity to learn new cultures, language and represent our country abroad.

Follow up:

Funny thing about growing up overseas…. We did not grow up with television or current movies ....which become a determent in later years when trying to play Trivial Pursuit…very quickly family and friends learn to select me last whenever it comes to playing games of this type. Unless I saw a re-run on Nick at Nite with my kids….most likely I will not be able to answer any of these game questions.
Sometimes our houses did not always have running hot water in our bathroom showers … that is certainly something to get use to as a teenager….nor did we have treats that most kids in the USA had such as Big Red Chewing Gum, Hersey Chocolate or Soda Pop. There was a time when we lived abroad and the country was under civil unrest and their ports were closed....we could not buy baked bread from the little bread shop behind our house. The aroma was torture when all we could do was smell it! They would not sell to an American. When we took the bus all over the city seeking a grocery store that had food on the shelf.... when found....they would not sell it to us either... I was about 10 years old then.... I will never forget the generosity of the families that we met that cared about us as people and as their allies/friends and how they would sneak food to our home at night (in the dark) for our family to have. When it came time for us to leave and return home due to the overthrow of their government, I will never forget how mothers thrust their babies at us wanting us to take them boarded the airplane. We could not take anyone’s baby….. families were under serious times and fear ….and the USA represented hope and freedom….. a country with passion and freedom and safety.
We did live under US security. We were watched by both sides. We were judged. We were also friends to many of the kids we went to school with too; US and of country. My parents were really big on letting us be teenagers making friends and going out with them...even under great danger. My parents taught us a way of life to protect ourselves but also to be prudent of those around us and of the judgment we made under every situation we found ourselves in…. It was a strange way to grow up and one that I did not realize was different than many years later in my life… I would ever trade it in. Nor is it one that I would want to relive today. Terrorism is different now than it was when I was growing up amongst it. When I think back about that time, I never recall worry about the good ole USA and its safety. I worry about our safety now the safety of our families and friends. I worry about the safety of our Embassy Families abroad and their children.