but my neighbors sure didn't. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that you would be able to figure out the following situation without having to come over and ask:
Imagine your neighborhood military spouse, headed out the door casually, but neatly attired, armed with her tools: a purse, some small pieces of paper, a stack of books, window cleaner, a box of tissues, some Goo Be Gone, a water bottle, and a razor blade. She walks to the car, deposits all the stuff on the hood, opens the car door, and climbs up onto the car. What in the heck is going on?
You experienced military spouses will immediately recognize that this spouse has a doctor's appointment and has just realized that the new DOD stickers that she picked up last week still haven't been put on the car. With careful planning, she has estimated that she has just enough time to put the kids on the bus, scrape the old stickers off, put the new stickers on, drive to the post, get through the gate, and still arrive at her appointment the requisite 15 minutes prior. I'm sure you can guess, this was me on Wednesday. As I stretched across the car from my perch in the door, I just imagined what my neighbors were thinking. And I knew that last year, when I was living on post, no one would have asked. They would have immediately recognized the sticker replacement tools and position. Furthermore, they probably would have come over to offer a hand, because they would instinctively know that I was pushing the time limit for my appointment and that medical often has no sense of humor about being late.
I've told this story to several of my civilian friends and haven't even gotten a chuckle. I hope that you will find it as amusing as I did...just an ordinary day in the life of a milspouse.
