Packing My Bags for the 12th Time

Listen to this song while reading this blog post:

The For Sale Sign in AZ

"Kids please come here," my parents said to my two brothers and I.  Once we sat down the news that destroyed my childhood come forth.
"We are moving again.  This time it's to New Jersey on the east coast," my dad said calmly.
"Oh and we are sorry Kelsey the moving date is your ninth birthday," my mom added.
I sat still for a few moments in shock then I screamed, "Why do you want to ruin our lives."  I ran out of our living room to my bedroom and slammed the door and thought to myself. 'This is our twelfth move, time to start packing my bags again.'

Temporary Room in New Jersey

Most kids grow up in one house for their whole childhood. Well lucky for me I'm not most kids. In 2005 my family and I began to pack all our stuff into as few boxes as possible and move across the United States. My parents explained to us that our house in New Jersey wasn't built yet for us to live in it so we had to stay in an apartment until it was ready. Most of our belongs were going into storage and we only kept the essentials.

Room In Arizona

After moving around so much as a kid I got used to all the brown moving boxes that permanently inhabited my house. This was the twelve time moving and we didn't even move into the whole we currently live in now. My parents dragged my brothers and I across country to live in a tiny three bedroom and one bathroom apartment. The day they chose to do this also happened to be my ninth birthday.

This move also caused me to give up my friends, my bunk bed, my desk (the movers broke it), a ninth birthday party, swim team, Sonic, and Texas Roadhouse. Some of the things I lost I eventually regained after a few years but it was still hard. I loved living in Arizona and I knew that this move would separate me from my childhood friends forever. I was angry about the whole idea of moving again but by now I was used to it.

My emotions about moving

Boxes filled the apartment and the only thing to do was unpack to then repack them in a few months. The move across country wasn't the worst part until school started. I went to a local public elementary school as I started fourth grade. From the very first day I earned the nickname 'four eyed brace face new girl.'  I didn't say a word to these kids but my looks and my clothes that were not name brand like theirs earned me torment for the next two years.  I had only live in New Jersey for a few months but I already wanted to move away even if it meant across country again.

Life Lesson #3: No matter how many times you move packing  and leaving a part of your life behind doesn't get easier.