Moving Again

It had finally arrived. Moving day. I was finally leaving my home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after five short years and a sort of gloom lingered in the air. Although many teenagers would be excited to reunite with their family, friends, and childhood home, I, however, was frightened of the future. I woke up that morning and just laid there and listened to the sound of the rain pittering against the roof and windows, pattering against the surrounding forest in which I shared many memories. After what felt like centuries of just listening and reflecting, I got up and looked out the window. I looked at my neighbor's house across the field of grass which separated our houses and at the kids who had become like my siblings. I looked at the ice

I didn’t want to have to leave my friends in Nashville and be forced to make new ones in Atlanta. I didn’t want to get used to another new house or another city. I just wanted to stay in the only place I could call home. As the day of my departure approached, I thought of running away, so I wouldn’t have to move and my dad could keep his job in Atlanta. Thankfully, I never went through with it. When the day finally arrived, I was everything but ready. My mom had picked my brother up from school early to help move boxes out of the house and into our car while the movers haled broken down beds, and other pieces of furniture into their industrial moving trucks. Once everything was packed into trucks, paper work was finished and dogs were loaded in the car, we began the long 4-hour trip to Atlanta as dusk made its way to the sky. The trip itself was a calm one, we managed to avoid any major accidents on the highway, and we were traveling around 8 o’clock so the traffic had died down. As we drove I couldn’t help but think back to the friends I left and what was to come

I never knew this would be my last day here… in Chicago. I hate my dad’s job, this is why I'm moving. Moving cities every year is hard and I hate it. My parents don't seem to bother all that much, they do it mostly for the money. As all these thoughts ran through my head, time went by and I finally arrived at my new house. As I out, all I could feel was the cold wind hitting my face and leafs attacking my fresh new j’s. Looking ahead of my was the fourth and certainly not the last house of mine.

I walked silently, my converse crunching on the wet sidewalk. I zipped up my jacket and took a sip of my coffee. I slowly walked towards my school when someone's shoulder slammed in to me. My coffee flew out of my hands, the lid came of as it hit the ground, spilling all over the sidewalk. I stumbled as I tried to regain my balance. I hate this small town I thought to myself. When I returned home I arrived to both of my parents sitting at the table. I looked at them with a confused look, “Ava why don't you take a seat,” Father said “we have something to tell you.” I took a seat not saying a word just giving them a confused look. “Ava honey your father got a promotion,” Mother stated “and we are going to be moving to California!” Fireworks were going off in my head thinking of all of the new things I would get to experience.

When humans reflect on their lives they often categorize things by their location at the time of the event, grouping their college experience separately from their hometown high school experiences. This association with place causes us to view an unwanted movement as an attack on our personal way of living. I first experienced such an affront when I was in the first grade, my family and I moved to a small town about three hours away from San Angelo. My father wanted to be closer to his aunt and uncle so he seemingly forced me and to tag along for the experience. I didn’t want to move away from my grandparents or my friends, the thought alone would cause me to cry. I had to leave behind all my friends, my family I

I have some news for you… You’re not going to like it”. The hardest thing for me yet, is trying to fit in. So, coming home to a parent saying we’re moving was amazing news, I couldn’t be happier. But, moving school districts was going to be a very hard obstacle to maneuver around. One year later, coming home from work, my father came up to me and told me he got a promotion in his job. I was thrilled for him, after that he told me we have to move again, this time to Texas. This is not what I had in mind, however, I still was happy for him and expected myself to accept the idea of making more friends in a different state.

“Where are we going?” She then looked at me and said, “We’re moving to Texas.” Out of all places, Texas? We lived in southern California our whole lives, so moving to Texas was definitely a shock to me. “What about our family and friends?” Her eyes began to water, so I knew talking about it further would only make things worse. Texas. It was stuck in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The more I thought of it, the worse it sounded. The worst part was that it was so sudden, so it didn’t seem real. Because my parents are divorced, I spent the weekends at my dad’s house. He was torn that I was leaving Riverside, which of course meant that weekend visits would turn

Who would have known traveling could be such a hassle? Especially when moving from Wilson, North Carolina to boring Goldsboro. Especially when having strict parents, an annoying sister, a spoiled brother and an innocent me stuffed in a van, just to move only 26.4 miles. Moving cannot be that dreadful, I tried considering to myself. Making new friends and memories are not the worst thing in the world. There was only one slight problem …school. It was fall of third grade and everything was different. From math to English to science, concepts were thrown at me that I was so sure that I had never seen at my previous school. So at first sight of trouble, I turned to my parents, but only to end up with a frustrated me and a very agitated mother.

When I first heard we were moving here, I thought to myself. Why did dad have to take this job? I mean I don’t hate it here. I just hate the fact that I didn’t get to tell most of my friends I was leaving. Although, something good came out of this. I get to see an old friend of mine, at least start something over. This house is nicer than the one before. I still remember the time when mom thought there was a rat in the cabinets, man was she scared.

My parents had packed everything. EVERYTHING. There was bareness on the walls and there was around us except piles and piles of boxes. I looked around the house one last time as cold salty tears streaked down my face. I was covered in tears from the waist up. The feeling of leaving everyone made me empty inside. I felt hollow. Finally my dad said, “Let’s go!” I pleaded with him to let us stay, but I got the same usual answer, “You’ll be fine.” I wasn’t.

“We are moving to Arizona. It’s your decision whether or not you come with us.” As a seven year, old girl, this was one of the hardest things to hear from the woman I was supposed to trust most, my mom. I had to make a decision whether or not to move across the country with my mom and a stranger, or move in with my dad and stay near my family. I immediately responded with “I will be staying in Massachusetts”. Although I knew that this decision would flip my world upside down, I didn’t know how much I would personally change because of it. In that moment, I didn’t know that I wouldn’t be seeing my mom for another year. I didn’t know that our relationship would never be the same again. That one sentence changed the whole course of my life. In that split-second decision, I went from a seven-year-old little girl, blind to the reality of life, into a mature young girl forced to swallow the idea of her mother leaving her behind.

It was during those years that her world had seemed to be turned upside down. All her and her children's needs were the responsibility of her husband, now that he was out of the picture, she had to take on the role of sole provider for her family. "The toughest part was the feeling of hopelessness, "She starts. "Everything I knew, all the the things I had hoped for were gone. I had a feeling of embarrassment being back home, as if I had failed. Now my children were looking to me. I knew that something needed to be done. My parents were always the example of working hard, and that is when I began to take stock of my talents. Don't get me wrong, its not like I changed overnight, I had to do what I needed to do. I worked at least two to three jobs at a time to pay the bills and eventually saved up enough to move out of my parent's house... again," she smiles.

Moving to a new place can have a multitude of different effects. There are several factors that you may not consider when relocating. You are often unaware of how difficult the adapting and adjustments will be until you are settling into your new territory. The three main issues you may experience as a result of relocating are getting acclimated to a different culture or way of life, negotiating your new surroundings, and leaving family and friends behind.

We had been talking about moving to California for about a month, and the prospect of leaving behind my friends, school, and family terrified me. However, I clung to the hope that maybe we wouldn’t have to go in the end, but that didn’t last long. One rainy spring afternoon my parents sat my brother and I down, and excitedly told us that we would be moving to America. My younger brother leapt up from the seat next to me and joyfully danced around the room, but I was not so ecstatic. After my parents put a positive spin on the situation, I didn’t feel quite as reluctant, but I still wasn’t fully on board. Nevertheless, I had little say in the matter as my father’s work required us to relocate, and so that summer we moved to California.

“Shawn have you ever heard of Hawaii?”, my father asked while we sat down for dinner. At that moment I already knew what was about to happen. My parents had been “joking around” recently about moving but I could tell that the jokes were progressively getting more and more serious, and this scared me. “No” I replied trying to avoid the subject. “Well it’s an amazing place, and your dad just scored a job transfer there and me and him are pretty set on it now.” I was distraught, I didn’t even want to think about leaving all of my friends and family that lived in texas.