RESILIENT CHILDREN USUALLY HAVE AT LEAST ONE GOOD ADULT ROLE MODEL

Growing up as a military brat and dealing with changes in school, friends and homes can result in instability in one's childhood. The close relationships I developed with our maid, Eliska, my Grandpa Freddie, plus several close friends, assisted in me developing resilience while growing up. Being lonely because of our family's social isolation in Heidelberg, I often wished we could move to the army base so I would find more friends my age. I also daydreamed of moving in with our maid's family near Cologne, north of the city where we lived. However, that was not meant to be. I learned to become more independent by reading a lot during the summer when there was no one to play with my  age. We continued to live off base after we moved back to the states. Again, I had to find nonmilitary friends as most kids who lived off base were civilians. Civilian children just didn't understand the culture of the military family, the constant moving around, making new friends every few years, the authoritarianism of following Dad's orders, making one's bed according to guidelines set by the parents, turning out bedroom lights at certain hours, and never being late for dinner. Close relationships I had with our maid, Eliska, various friends and Grandpa Freddie salvaged the discomfort I often felt in not being able to meet my parents' stiff standards. It saved my self-esteem and assisted me in developing into an adult with self-confidence and poise. Below are pictures of Eliska and Grandpa Freddie.