I am because I learned...

I am a very shy person. I find it amazing that children raised in the same household with all the same teachings can end up so different. Different in the sense that one can end up so extraverted and outgoing and the other one will end up so shy and introverted. I am shy because of what I learned while being a military "brat". There were so many great memories created at every military installation my father was transferred to. I will never negate that. With every move there were great opportunities...and lost friendships. I learned through these moves, not to get too attached to people or places. Within three or four years, we would be leaving. My mother was the type to keep attachments and friendships. She was the one I wanted to be like in that aspect. She would always have a huge address book with the contact information of every person she became friends with and she never forgot them. They always got Christmas cards and phone calls. My father was just the opposite. He never, ever looked back. When we would leave one base for another, I don't remember him being hurt by leaving "friends" behind, sending letters/cards to people from previous locations or calling old friends. This is how I would be. I learned to put the walls up and not get close to anyone. I was that quiet girl in the back of the classroom who didn't talk or participate in class. I was the one who was picked on for my weight and my shyness.
My strongest hurt with friendship was the last base my dad was at. We (us kids) were told that this would be the last move with the military. Looking back, I guess I took that as "the last move"...period. I allowed myself to make one good friend. We did everything together and we became inseperable. Then...the bomb was dropped that we were moving. Mom and dad didn't want to retire where we were (who could blame them, we all hated it there) so we would be moving to be closer to other family members, several states away.
I think that final hurt was what actually made me how I am. I vowed I wouldn't get hurt like that again. It has been 20+ years since that last hurt and...now I don't even know how to make friends, much less keep them. It's quite amazing that I ever got married and have kids!
All that being said, I wouldn't trade the places I've seen for anything in the world!

...and so I write.