I can call it tradition for my family to move every couple of years, for I have moved four times in my life. I started the journey of life in Missouri, continued it in Tennessee where I learned to walk, South Dakota where I started my basketball career, into Ohio where I spent fifth, sixth, seventh grade, and now in Minnesota for the rest of my high school career. I can still remember that day, if you ask me. I thought my world was coming to a blazing end. It was an unnormally cold afternoon in Ohio, this kind of weather was familiar to me because I lived in South Dakota.
Actually, it was a coincidence; since this is the type of weather I would have to get used to again. After all I was going up north moving to Minnesota. My parents called a family meeting. I could feel the nervousness setting in as I threw myself onto the couch feeling my body sink into the cushions. It was about six months in advance my parents gingerly told my brother and I that we would be moving to Minnesota. At first I could not believe them. I felt sick to my stomach, but after a few minutes I realized that they were serious.
Multiple questions invaded my my mind. Why are we moving? What will happen to the house? What will I tell my Friends? These questions ran through my jumbled mind. My parents were kind enough to answer the questions, but their answers made steam go through my ears. They told me that I had to clean the whole house so we could sell it. Also, that my brother and I could not tell my friends because it was not yet final. Apparently my opinions and feelings meant nothing because they made the decision by themselves.
I sat by myself wondering how they could force such a large change in my life, but not let me tell my closest friends, and why I had to keep the house clean so it could sell. To my parents I was just a kid that did not know anything; a kid expected to just go with the flow being as quiet as a mouse. It was a surreal moment for me when our house sold because a flipped switched in my mind. This is really happening. I finally asked my parents why we were moving because I thought my life was perfect at the time. I had developed strong friendships throughout the three years.
I just finished seventh grade winning the basketball conference champions, I was on the best AAU basketball team in the state, and I lived on a golf course with all friends, so I thought my life was well set for going into eighth grade. I stared into their eyes looking for a significant response, but they just said, “we are moving to give a better life to you and your brother. ” That was a nonsense. My mother and father were cruel, not for making me move, but for treating me like a kid and not giving me reasonable answers. The time to move creeped up fast, feeling more like six weeks rather than six months.
I was busy with school, sports, cleaning, packing, and trying to spend as much time with my friends as possible. Slightly a year ago my grandparents planned a vacation for my family this summer, unknowing of what was going to happen. It was a bitter sweet vacation because it was a free trip to the Bahamas, but when I got back I only had five days left in Ohio. I felt that this vacation only impeded in the time I had left in Ohio. The day after I got back the moving truck came. There were bunches of people suffocating my belongings in boxes like they did not matter. My house was as empty as the desert.
On July 15, 2013 we packed the car said our goodbyes, I took a last minute picture of my house, and have never looked back. It was a two day or seventeen hour trek to Minnesota. When I arrived in Minnesota the gloomy weather coincided with my mood because it was dark, fifty degrees, and drizzling. This move has changed me and how I act. At first it is difficult and annoying, but after a while you get used to change. I have realized that change is for the good, and my parents moved so I could have more opportunities whether it be for basketball or my education. It has made me more self confident, outgoing, and independent.
I try to take on the little challenges life throws my way, but we do not live in a fairy tale. Not every change is for the good, but that experience will make you stronger. Even though change can be hard at the moment, I feel that it always benefits you in the long run. Once you get used to adversity, you will end up changing you life somehow in ways that are barely noticeable. Even if it is just changing how the furniture is laid out in your living room, your are changing your life. When I look back into the past I realize that all the good things, have been a result of adversity that has occurred to me in the ast.
I hated the thought of change, for I thought it was the start of a blazing end. But really it just carves a new path. Without change your life is dull and boring. Some people dread it, but some people wish for it. After I hit this obstacle in my life I realized that it was a start to grow stronger, meet new people, and have a new beginning. The next time you have the opportunity to make a change in your life, even if it is small, I challenge you to take it and see how your life will take a turn for the better.
