I was a State Department brat, but our moving patterns were somewhat different from the usual. For one, we would do three years overseas, three years back in the same general vicinity in the US (Virginia suburbs) so that there was familiarity there, even if I didn't have a pack of friends or a familiar school because of how the timing fell out. Secondly, my mom is from an American-Spanish-Filipino family, so our time in Asia was marked by long visits to a giant passel of relatives in Manila, so that was another locus of stability. I'm introspective, introverted, and I did have a hard time making friends, but I don't think I had too hard a time with the moving because I had all my books and a couple of close friends and that's all I needed. My younger sister, on the other hand, didn't end up moving as frequently, but it was harder on her as she got older because she tended to get involved in big social groups that were harder to leave behind.

I've ended up moving several times as an adult, and I think there's a part of me that really enjoys picking up and leaving for new ground. But keeping connections with family does become more difficult, even with Facebook and email and LJ.