Personal Narrative: Moving To Columbia, S. C.

When I was nine years old my father went to prison. Since he was a single parent, I was forced to relocate to Washington State to live with my grandparents. Moving to Washington was one of the worst things that I thought could happen at the time, even though it ended up strengthening me as a person. I was forced to leave my friends, school, father and all of my other family members. I was taken from everything I knew and was left very confused and conflicted.

4,097 people. That was the population of Centralia Missouri in 2011. Moving had never been an issue for me, when your dad is in the military you get used to it. This time it was different than any other time. My parents were divorcing and my mom was forcing me to move to a town with only 4,097 people opposed to my home in Virginia with 225,401 people.

Where one grows up affects their lifestyle and character; one’s surroundings shape his or her outlook on the world. Many people always say when growing up in the city one will be used to a diverse, hasty going, and exhilarating life; while growing up in the country one will be used to a deliberate, steadier, and bucolic life. Although moving to Mississippi was a dramatic alteration, I can explicitly acknowledges the menaces–death, robberies, and fights–encountered growing up in the city. Therefore, moving to the south may have been a better alternative involving my physical well-being, regardless of the many emotional struggles. Moving down south to Mississippi from Illinois showed me the struggles of coping with racism and prejudice people,

June sixteenth two thousand and sixteen. There I was in my bed crying uncontrollably. I did not know whether I was crying over the fact that my mom was moving to North Carolina, or the fact that I am being forced to grow up in a matter of twelve hours. For seventeen years my hand has been held, and I have been led through life by my parents; I have never had to worry about the simple things like doing my laundry, making dinner, or driving myself where I needed to be. After all of the sacrifices my mom has made for my family the past eighteen years, it was her turn to put herself first. She was offered a promotion, and it was not my place to tell her to turn it down.

I moved to Connecticut in the September of 2008 because my Dad had a job transfer. This was around the time that I started the second grade. I was introduced to so many people and they were all so nice to me. Six years later, I made countless friends and started to feel like Connecticut was where I wanted to stay forever. But in December of 2014, my Dad got a phone call from a company in South Jersey and they wanted him to work for them. At first, he worked 3 days in Camden, and the rest of the week in Connecticut. That was difficult though because we did not get to see him as often as we wanted to. My parents then sat my brother and I down and asked us if we wanted to move to South Jersey. I did not know what to think. After six years, I loved living in Connecticut and I wanted to stay there. They told us that it would be a lot easier to move down to Jersey instead of my dad traveling every week. My brother and I both agreed that this is what we are going to have to do. I can still remember that day though. It seemed liked the world was going to a scorching end. At least my world was. I started to tell my friends that

Many of the harsh dilemmas I encountered that were directly related to me conceding to abuse alcohol, existed well in advance of my decision to relocate to Atlanta, Ga. In fact, from what I'm able to ascertain by way of reliable sources, including my wife, is that my primary motive for leaning more towards this decision was to find help for the perils and perplexed conditions in which my life had twirled into. Initially, though I was unable to interpret the chaotic turn of events, or the uncivil behaviors I came to embrace, it appeared that everyone else around me were solely aware of them and were also jointly convinced that the only way out for me was to seek professional guidance. Their wrath about me drinking as heavily as I did were

A wise man once said, "Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not." I have always planned for the future then sometimes it's not as I expected it to be. I used to live in Raleigh, North Carolina and thought I would be there forever. I never really thought about moving as a result it didn’t bother me until one day. I was told we are moving to South Carolina, I honestly thought that it was the worst thing ever. Change may not be as bad as you might think it is. Who knows, you may like change better.

I find myself looking over my shoulder every time I step outside my front door. Violence has opened my eyes and destroyed my dreams of peace. When I first moved to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico, I moved into a neighborhood that was full of gangs and drugs. Philadelphia represented a new start, a chance for me to breathe again. I had experienced a tragic shooting right before my ten year old eyes in Puerto Rico; my mom’s best friend was killed, while the murderer calmly walked away. We escaped to Philadelphia, and I thought my days of witnessing horrific violence were over. However, my dreams were shattered like gunshots in the night. One day, while I was napping, I was awoken by a series of deafening pops. As soon as I heard them, I dropped

As a child I was Boston born but Georgia raised. My mom says I moved to Georgia when I was 2 but since I was 2 I don’t remember. I stayed in Georgia for 8 years and when I was ten my family moved back to Boston because my mother got tired of Georgia. I had never lived in Boston after I was born so when I got here I didn't know anyone besides family or any of the places. My first year here in Boston I lived in-for lack of a better weird-the hood. I was from Georgia the parts where the worse thing that ever happened to me was a school lockdown because they thought fireworks were gunshots. When I came to Boston it was a totally different scenery. I was scared to go everywhere and/or do anything. I lived in Mattapan kinda near Blue Hill Ave. to give you some imagery. The corner store I lived near was more than “a corner” away. But as well it wasn't a mile away either. I was scared mostly because the street I had to walk down to get to the corner store was full of houses blocking the light and wasn't ever that busy.

At the age of 27, I had an epiphany; For my entire adult life, I had not been truly living. After careful consideration of solutions, seemingly endless nights of research, and thorough preparation, my decision was to uproot myself and move from Virginia to Colorado. In the three years that I lived there I learned many things about myself and my surroundings. I discovered the most beautiful and amazing nature scenes and had some exciting adventures. The daily sunshine and glorious views always brought a smile to my face and lifted my spirits. If I ever woke up not feeling great, all I had to do was take a step outside. There, my energy levels soared as I hiked my days away and enjoyed peace in the mountains, at the parks, and by the lakes and

I woke up in my comfortable bed and walked downstairs. I walked to the door that leads outside and opened it. I could smell the fresh air of the country. It has been a week since I moved from New York. I use to live in a crowded suburb in New York City where I couldn’t smell the fresh air. Now that I moved to South Carolina with my wife and two children, I think my life is taking a turn for the better. I live right on the coast, so I also get an excellent view of the ocean from my porch. I continued to breath the fresh air for a while longer. After about five minutes of standing there, I went inside and closed the door. The rest of my family was still upstairs sleeping. I went to the kitchen and started to cook breakfast. The smell of freshly

Unlike many of my peers, I wasn’t raised in Montgomery County. I was born in Savannah, Georgia on September 10th 1997. After Georgia we lived in Anchorage, Alaska. During that time my now 16 year old sister, Asha was born. After Alaska we packed up and moved to Fairfield, Ohio. My now 11 year old sister, Malea was born there. That’s where I ended up spending almost 12 years there.After moving constantly when I was younger due to my mom being in the Army, it was nice to be stable somewhere. We ended up moving to Gaithersburg after my mom got a promotion in D.C. I started my Junior year at Quince Orchard very scared and nervous. Luckily, I met some amazing people that helped adjust to the move. The move to Gaithersburg made me realize that I

When I moved to Florida in elementary school, Lynn and I promised each other that we would keep in touch. We’ve been best friends since she reached out to me the day I arrived at a Korean church in Alabama. Ever since I left, we texted each other daily. After 8th grade, excitement for high school dominated our texts. We conjured up grand plans, varying from surgeons to global journalists. We also had chats typical of 13-year-old girls–complaints about school, crushes on boys, etc. I assumed that Lynn’s life was the same since I left.

In 2014 of October I moved to Georgia from Florida. I was leaving a place I had been living in my entire life. It was a tough situation as I knew moving to a different state and school could be difficult. I was very nervous as it was a new environment with different people and new types of school work. I was worried about not making friends or getting bad grades. That morning of school my heart raced. When I arrived at school I met new people and my teachers, I also figured out which teachers were bad and what teachers would be good. I left school that day very happy knowing I would have a great year. Later that week I started to become more familiar with the grading systems, behavior system and connections. at my old school they were called

On a scorching Saturday morning in Georgia, I tossed and turned in my bed as my slumber was interrupted by my dad screaming "Family meeting!". I cringed at the thought of being deprived of my favorite blue, plush blanket. I dragged myself down the steps and into the dining room that felt like a Russian winter on my skin. As I sat down, my dad looked guilty, curling his lip and clicking his fingernails against one another. He looked at my little brother Leslie, my oldest sister Kyra and me with a sombre glance as if he were saying "I'm sorry". My dad told us that he received a promotion back in our original home in Chesapeake, Virginia. Hearing this I bit my lip, holding back my sorrow as I tried to appear thrilled for my dad's advancement in the company.