College App
“Where are you from?”
My stomach tightens and my mouth goes dry as I rack my brain for an answer that doesn’t involve explaining my entire life story. My anxiety over such a simple question may seem unnecessary, but I have spent the past seventeen years trying to come up with a suitable answer to that same question. I have grown up a proud daughter of a United States Army soldier, and in my father’s line of work, never knowing where we’ll be sent next is part of the job description. I was born in New York and from there moved to Georgia. Then we moved to Rhode Island, back to New York, Kansas, Virginia, and finally Washington. That’s seven states. Not to mention, I have attended six different public schools and lived in seven different houses. You could say I’ve always been the new girl. My life is not just in brown cardboard boxes though; it’s picking up and moving at any given time. What can I say in response to this question? Should I say the snow drifts in New York because that’s where I was born? Or should I say the rolling hills of Kansas because three years is the longest I’ve spent in one place? Some may feel sorry for me, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way. We are not defined by a geographic location, but rather the challenges we face and how we learn from them. Unexpected deployments and goodbyes have shown me that some lessons are harder than others, but I know that I am heading towards a bright future. Through my travels I have experienced a wide range of cultures and lifestyles that some can only dream of. Being an Army brat has made me adaptable, flexible, and empathic. So, a simple answer to this question just wouldn’t do my story justice. I take a deep breath, smile, and say “I’m from everywhere.”
My stomach tightens and my mouth goes dry as I rack my brain for an answer that doesn’t involve explaining my entire life story. My anxiety over such a simple question may seem unnecessary, but I have spent the past seventeen years trying to come up with a suitable answer to that same question. I have grown up a proud daughter of a United States Army soldier, and in my father’s line of work, never knowing where we’ll be sent next is part of the job description. I was born in New York and from there moved to Georgia. Then we moved to Rhode Island, back to New York, Kansas, Virginia, and finally Washington. That’s seven states. Not to mention, I have attended six different public schools and lived in seven different houses. You could say I’ve always been the new girl. My life is not just in brown cardboard boxes though; it’s picking up and moving at any given time. What can I say in response to this question? Should I say the snow drifts in New York because that’s where I was born? Or should I say the rolling hills of Kansas because three years is the longest I’ve spent in one place? Some may feel sorry for me, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way. We are not defined by a geographic location, but rather the challenges we face and how we learn from them. Unexpected deployments and goodbyes have shown me that some lessons are harder than others, but I know that I am heading towards a bright future. Through my travels I have experienced a wide range of cultures and lifestyles that some can only dream of. Being an Army brat has made me adaptable, flexible, and empathic. So, a simple answer to this question just wouldn’t do my story justice. I take a deep breath, smile, and say “I’m from everywhere.”