The Meat and Potatoes of Life: Perils of climbing the social ladder

Those first weeks in the Kelley Barracks hotel waiting for base housing to open up after our move to Germany were surprisingly enjoyable. I cooked creative cuisine using the room’s tiny microwave and foodstuffs pilfered from the hotel breakfast bar. The kids made forts in the room. I watched home improvement shows on AFN.

But soon, the novelty of camping out in the barracks hotel wore off, and I found myself chatting with the hotel clerk, commissary baggers, and anyone at the dog park to combat loneliness.

After five weeks, a stairwell apartment finally opened up on Patch Barracks. I couldn’t wait to start bonding with the other wives in the building, but strangely, no welcoming party arrived at my door.

I pathetically scanned the neighborhood for potential friends while walking the dog