‘Tis the season…for all the crazy off-the-wall questions from our friends and family!
It starts with Thanksgiving because we have to decide whether or not to make the trek back home. We start hearing questions like “Why aren’t you coming home this year?”
Well, my husband and I are about 1,500 miles away and plane tickets are insane! We have to pick and choose the time we spend traveling.
There are plenty more questions where that came from as we roll into the Christmas season.
Military families have to answer so many questions during the holidays that we don’t necessarily want to be asked.
But, we still accept them with an open heart and entertain them with a response. We realize that our families do mean well (most of the time).
Recently, I put a call-out to my military friends to ask them what questions they’ve dealt with in the past. Overwhelmingly, I received a lot of feedback because it happens more than we’d like!
Here are 23 questions friends and family members asked that seriously make you scratch your head.
The obvious, yet always asked questions, which sometimes come off as rhetorical.
“Don’t you miss enjoying the holidays with family?”
“Isn’t it hard to be away from your hometown?”
“Why don’t you go home for the holidays?”
“What is keeping you from visiting family?”
Um, of course, we miss family and it’s difficult to be away. Sometimes it’s logistically impossible to make it home because of duty for our spouse. Can we catch a break?
The military-related questions that make you want to face-palm because they really don’t get it.
“When will you be done with this whole military thing?”
“Do you know where you are moving next?”
“Do you choose where you live?”
“Why can’t you be stationed near us?”
“Why are you cooking for a bunch of strangers instead of coming home?”
“What do you mean he has to work?”
“What do you mean he can’t take off work?”
“How much overtime is your spouse getting?”
“Can’t you hop on a military plane to travel home?”
The difficult questions that make you feel guilty.
“Are you having a baby yet?” or “When are you having another baby?”
“How do you choose which family to visit for Christmas?”
“How do you handle being away?”
“Why are you with your family and not his?”
“Why don’t you come home without him, if he’s working?”
“When are you coming to see us?”
“How is this the first year you’re hosting and you’ve been married a decade?”
“Why aren’t you going to visit both families?” (When they are 1,000 miles apart, it makes it a bit challenging.)
The questions that make you feel even more guilty because your kids are involved.
“How do you tell your kids that Santa will find them with moving so much?”
“Isn’t it hard on your kids not visiting family?”
The list can go on and on!
