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Growing up in a Navy household gives you lots of practice. My dad was perpetually deployed on sea duty from my birth until age 13. The exceptions were kindergarten and first grade in Hawaii (a desk job in in Pearl Harbor), a desk job at the Pentagon (1/2 5th grade -> 1/2 7th grade). He finished sea duty and went to a desk job permanently at the start of 9th grade.

Having the movers show up every two years is disruptive. They empty all your neatly arranged desk drawer contents into ONE box to be sorted at the next location. Those lasting friends of two years duration are left behind and a new round of meeting people in the next location begins.

I recall receiving 3 inch audio tapes from my dad in the mail. I learned to thread the tapes onto the reel to reel recorder at age 5. When I was 15, he took me down to the music store and purchased a good quality bugle so I could attend to my duties in the scout troop. He left for Vietnam for the 3rd time the next day. During that deployment, the gas valve failed on the forced air heater. That explained why the house was cold as hell for 3 weeks. I rode my bicycle 10 miles to an appliance store and purchased a replacement. A little Teflon tape and a check with some soapy water confirmed a good install. When dad is out at sea, everyone has to pick up the slack to keep things running smoothly.