You know what time the mid watch is.
You've stayed awake during the mid watch to talk to your husband on the phone.
You've super glued, ironed on, or velcroed a patch onto a uniform.
You've lived in any or all of the following cities; Norfolk, VA, Kingsland, GA, Groton, CT, Bangor, WA, Saratoga, NY.
You think day after duty is a special holiday.
You know the difference between a mini day, liberty after field day, and fast cruise.
You're husband has ever uttered the words, "I'm not at liberty to say."
You can pack a sea bag in under 10 minutes.
You know what a TLD, LES, and TVQ are, but you don't know what the letters stand for.
You've stood on the beach/pier despite snow, rain, or sand gnats to watch the boat pull in.
Anything less than 30 days doesn't really count as a patrol.
The other crew always gets the better deal.
You send emails religiously to a system you know is broken.
You expect an email everyday from a system you know is broken.
You've actually grown to like sleeping alone despite the fact that you are married.
You use a phone tree.
You know what "boat smell" is.
You know what month it changes from dress whites to dress blues and back again.
You know the difference between 3 section and 4 section duty.
You can honestly accept phone calls, snail mail and web-cams as purely a surface fleet luxury.
You've listened to a surface fleet wife say, "It's been 2 days and I haven't heard anything from him," and you wanted to punch her.
You've told your boss after the school calls, "You just don't get it. I'm a single parent regardless of the fact I am wearing a wedding band and the DNA tests proved it is his baby, too."
You check your email every 10 minutes by hitting the send and receive button convincing yourself it has to be the server.
You spend a majority of the time answering, "I don't know" to the following questions, When will he be home? Will you make it for the wedding? Can we book the hotel rooms for you now? Will you be here for the family reunion?
You know the homecoming in a submariner's life is the one thing that makes it justified.
It's not been too awful warm here in the northwest- which, to be honest, I am not at all bummed about! But, there has been one, maybe two days that have qualified as summer. The kids have been so anxious to run in the sprinkler and play outside.
It was also the day of our 'Family Final Fling'. Which just translates to a big party with the entire boat at the end of the patrol. We all met up at Camp McKean. Now it doesn't mean that Chris is actually home yet... just that it's getting close. The Final Fling is always a milestone we look forward to.
Bradly had to stop every five minutes and clean her feet and shoes off from the dirt and sand- it was scream after scream as she tried to play. Too much drama if you ask me! And just to play at a park. She does keep us entertained at least.
