How I Got A Promotion

So when I was told by my parents that we were moving again, I was not ecstatic about it. I was genuinely upset, and I pleaded to my parents every day to change their decision of moving to the United States. I was in denial, I didn’t want to be in Miami.

I’d lived in Florida my entire life up until I was nine years old, so moving to a new state was a big change for me. In fact, moving to Ohio was the biggest change in my life so far. It was because of my grandparents’ visit that mom realized living in Florida isolated us from the rest of our family. For this reason, my parents came to the conclusion that we should move to Ohio. I didn’t want to go at first, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

In the morning our mom told us we were going to sell the house and possibly move to a little town named Geneseo. I’ve only been there once, to get gas on the way to our grandma and grandpa’s. The news was surprising and made me a little upset. I’d have to leave my friends I’ve grown up with.

At first there was resistance to us moving at all, however my mom and dad eventually made the decision, we would be moving. The few weeks afterward were extremely hectic first my mom rented a storage unit where the mover guys would pick up our stuff, not to mention the actual packing itself, then my dad’s new boss made arrangements for us to stay at hotel until we could find a house, and finally came the actual moving day, the last time any of us would see the house again.

I was not surprised when I was told we were moving again. Moving from place to place was something I accepted into my life. My mom always had a good reason to leave and start a new adventure somewhere else.

When she first told me about the job in Georgia I was really excited. I never moved out of state or to a different city before. I really was ready to get out of Louisiana. It was hard when my mom left for Savannah. I was upset that she left three weeks before my birthday. In life, we have to make sacrifices for the people we love. One of them is for seven months Whitney and the kids are going to stay with us. Instead of my sister and I going to stay with my grandmother we can stay in our house with the kids. It’s like my mom and brother never left because of the kids are there giving us love and energy. Even though we are not in Savannah with my mom and brother we still talk to them every day. On school breaks and holidays, we get a chance to ride up to Georgia to see them. I know my mom probably gets sad that she can’t see us every day but its what’s best. She stays up there and work to make money and we stay down here to finish

But everyday I would keep thinking about living in Ohio because I missed it there. One day my mom said casually “would you move back to Ohio if you could”? I said “yes its boring here I hate it”. She hates it when I say hate but that’s how I felt at the time because living in Ohio was everything to me. I loved it there and my dad specifically told me that we weren’t leaving from Ohio.

This move had my feelings everywhere, my heart broken, and my eyes sore from crying. Since my step-dad at the time was in the Air Force and my mom use to be in the Air Force to I was pretty use to moving, but this move was different and a lot harder to go through. I had enough good feelings and bad feelings too balance each other out, but the bad feelings were overwhelming at the start. One night it hit me and when it did it hit me really hard. I felt nothing at first, but then I felt everything when my mom told my sister and I that we were moving back home to North Carolina. Then I realized I was never going to see half of my family again.

My emotions switched from happy to nervous and scared when my parents said that we’d be moving to Virginia when we were on vacation. I was so sad because I didn’t want to lose all of my friends and my home, but my family told me that we had to but might not be able to afford it and that made me slightly happier. When we returned to New Hampshire I made sure to not let anyone know that I was moving because I didn’t want them to be sad. Every day I would ask my parents, “Are we going to move or not?” and they always said, “Maybe.” One day my parents said, we probably won’t just yet.”I was so ecstatic that I told all my friends everything and they were very happy. Days passed quickly because I was still so relieved that I wasn't moving and I had been able to keep a secret from my friends until the secret no longer needed to be kept.

I really wanted to live closer to both set of parents that way I could maintain a relationship with both sets, and keep it as equal as possible. As well as, during the time I lived in Germany, my mother remarried and had a little girl. For me, it was important to create a relationship with my only sibling at the time, and also the person my mom was happily married to. Plus, I travelled back home two times in the summer to see my mother while I lived with Dad. I found a few relationships with friends that I kept in touch with while I was gone. It was hard to leave both parents for an extended amount of time, especially as young as I was then. After this point, I didn’t want to move again until I was graduated from high school. My parents and I both thought it was important to stay in one place while growing up because of the friendships I wanted to keep and grow. Therefore, I lived in Charles City, Iowa with my mom, visited my dad, grew up with my classmates, attended school, and lived what I described as a normal life. After getting closer to graduation and looking at colleges to attend and earn my degree, I knew I still wasn’t quite ready to leave my family and friends. I looked at colleges in Florida, Texas, and Minnesota, which neither of those colleges allowed me to stay close to home. I have four siblings, ages 10-15, hence it is important for me to stay as close as possible, and further my relationships with family. Currently, I’m still driven to go home most weekends during the semester, and visit either my mom’s side or my dad’s side. I love to see the activities my brothers and sisters are involved in and watch them transform in that specific area, and also catch up with my parents. If I were to attend a college further away, I know I would miss out on the opportunities to see my family and growing up separated most of the time, I’m not quite ready to give that

This move is the hardest one so far. I can’t remember our other moves, so I didn’t know what to expect. My life might change. I don’t know what North Carolina is like. We are moving due to the fact that my Dad’s fellowship is over. Also, moving is just the start.

“But honey, we have to. I know you don’t want to leave your friends, but your father has a great job oppurtunity up there.” said my mom while we were packing up all of our belongings for our move to Saskatchewan, Canada.

Reflecting on my emotions from the past week I can say, I am finally able to smile. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my husband’s Basic Military Training graduation, which took place in San Antonio, Texas. I had been waiting for this event all quarter, that day where I would finally get to see my Airman. Even though I was only in Texas for a few days that was enough to appreciate, and realize how much I missed and need my husband. Nonetheless, the hug and that kiss at the end of his graduation made up for all of the tears and sacrifices I had to go through these past weeks. It had been eight long weeks without seeing him, so I was super excited to see him. However, before getting to the base, I wondered if he would be the same person. I wondered if I would be able to turn on my emotions or pick up where we had left off. I was unsure, of my emotions since I had managed to turn them off for some time, I was afraid of the way I would react, nevertheless, all I wanted was to see him.

I had just finished my freshman year of high school and was packing to go to summer camp when the news was given to me that we were moving. I was used to moving. I had done it four times and it did not bother me. Most kids would complain or try to stay, but I knew it was out of my hands. Only when my parents said it we were moving to Norway did I get caught off guard. Norway? Why Norway? What does Norway have to do with my life? I didn’t know but soon found out there was a sector of my dad’s company in Norway. With the new knowledge in my mind, I continued to pack for camp and later that month left for Colorado. I loved going to this summer camp. I was able to go horseback riding and hiking all throughout the Rocky Mountain National Park, but this year was different. My parents were in Norway looking for a new house and school while I was stuck in a wooden cabin in Estes Park,

Somehow the idea hopped into my husband’s head that he wanted to move. One day, out of nowhere, he came home with the crazy idea of wanting to move to Key West. At first, I thought it was just a crazy idea and that was never going to happen. We had a good life in New Jersey, and everything seemed to be going well. Why move? I kept thinking to myself. He had his own business, and he was not going to leave that behind. I thought our lives were perfect in New Jersey, and we did not need to change anything about it. Time passed by, and our second child was born. I said to myself “for sure now we are never going to move”. Oh my, was I wrong! That day came faster than I wished for.