Stuck on you ... and your furniture

As one military wife expressed it this week, a tiny sticker can tell huge stories. That proved true, as readers responded to last week’s column about inventory stickers, a constant of military life. I received so many messages via email, Facebook and the Spouse Calls blog, with comments both funny and poignant, that I wanted to share some of them:

Beverly Pitts: Those stickers are like my kids’ stuffed animals. They mate and multiply overnight. Just when you think you have found them all, another one shows up. Then you get orders, and the process begins again.

Kal_El: I hate moving and am not a fan of the ubiquitous tag on everything.

Therese Gamble: Those inventory stickers are little badges of honor!

I stayed in Georgia so our youngest could finish his senior year while my husband moved to Virginia. I am only half kidding when I say (my son) graduates 6/3 and I'll have movers here 6/4. Bring on those little stickers!

Erin Thompson: We are in the process of a looong move (TDY en route) from Germany to Hawaii. This is our sixth move in 10 years of marriage. This (column) had me laughing and responding out loud because it is SO true!

I don't spring clean because a move is always around the corner, meaning I will be sorting and organizing and donating and throwing out. I have various rugs and basic curtains that will fit in a variety of houses. When we finally arrive, I will have a house basically set up in a week or two, and by a month of being there, the majority of boxes unpacked, pictures up, and location figured out. It's what we do.

My civilian friends and family don't get it but my military friends, who are scattered around the globe, definitely do. My kids have experienced so many amazing places, and don't find that extraordinary. They have no hometown, but consider the United States home. So, yep, every time I find one of our hidden stickers I smile, knowing what it represents.

Deborah Sweitzer: Erin, if you need help/info, we just moved from Germany to Hawaii in July. It's an interesting transition. Our hardest move ever, as far as logistics go, but not a bad place to end up! Just message me if you need anything.

Celeste McVeigh: We moved last summer and we move again this summer in 2012 … I loved reading this to my daughters today as well. You are good company to have when the chaos of military life unfolds! And we have so many of those stickers on our belongings it’s kind of ridiculous!

Jean Van Sickle: Terri, I am going to miss those many colored stickers that seem to pop up out of nowhere. I always wonder, “What move was that color?” I may just have to leave a few on with my final move.

CMH: For more than 35 years we have been “collecting stickers” from 25 moves thus far, so your column truly hit a chord with me. But even better than that, it gave me something to slip in with the loaf of banana bread that greets each new neighbor, or the chicken salad sandwiches that feed movers as each old friend slips from the block. A copy of your column that speaks so tenderly to the nomadic yet endearing lifestyle that is our own will now be included from me at each of those occasions.  It says it all for me, to them, as they come and go from my life. A tiny little sticker that can tell huge stories again and again. Who'd have thought?

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