Navy Brat Research Paper

The Life of a Navy Brat
I was born in Cherry Point, N.C. to Vonda and John Barton. My parents were in their early twenty’s when I came along, my father in the Navy and my mom staying home to tend to me. When I was little and still living on base in North Carolina, I had no idea how poor we were. It never took much to make my eyes light up and my heart fill with joy. I was content riding my bike and playing with the local kids; I don’t really recall life outside of the navy base. I was happy just being there. My dad was often deployed for months or years at a time, so it was mostly just my mom and I. I never had any sisters or brothers so my mom and I had an extremely close relationship. I think she leaned on me to fill the void of my dad
This was supposed to be where my dad was going to retire and where he said we were going to stay forever, this meant no more changing schools and no more starting over, I was ecstatic. My best friend in Virginia was a girl named Amanda who I referred to as Manda Panda. She had long, straight brown hair. Her body was built like a boy’s, her shoulders wide, her torso long. Our minds were identical, we could finish each others sentences, knew what each other was thinking without even speaking and very frequently would come home from shopping with our parents with the same items. We were your typical giggly, boy crazy girls. She was my favorite person in the world. When I moved to Virginia it was around the end of my fifth grade year, Amanda and I were extremely lucky to be in most of the same classes and we were inseparable in and out of school. My dad eventually retired after almost five years of us living in Virginia however, he decided that he wanted to move one more time. I was devastated. My parents promised me we wouldn’t move anymore, having to continually start over was rough for me. Being the new kid and the awkwardness of not knowing anyone, learning a new school and leaving behind your friends was supposed to be over. I became