Personal Narrative: Feeling Like An Outsider

I never would have imagined feeling like an outsider in my own home. Unfortunately I wouldn’t even go as far as considering my current home as “my home.” I live in a house with eight people and two dogs and for some, that might not even be slightly overwhelming, but for me it is. I try to keep my heart open about the situation, but I always end up feeling like I don’t belong. Given the circumstances of my situation, I would say life definitely turned out better than what I initially expected, but I was left feeling like a “stranger in a village” having to live with a family that is nothing like my own.
Life was different before my mom was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. I lived in a house with my mom and my two siblings. My parents were divorced and my dad was not a big influence in my life. My mom knew before she died that she needed to figure out where my siblings and I would go. It was a tough process for everyone. We all wanted to hold onto the hope that she would defy the odds, but we had to be realistic. She knew my dad could not support three kids financially; she had no choice but to find a better option. She came to the decision that we would live with close family friends. Almost everyone knew at the end of her fight that she wouldn’t make it and my life instantly flipped upside-down. I was heartbroken and felt out of place; my mom was dying and not only that but I had to immediately start packing my house away. I was on an emotional rollercoaster and it only seemed to get worse.
The moving process was unlike any other time that I’ve moved to a different house. There were people at my house going through my family’s belongings telling me what was worth keeping and what wasn’t. I felt like I couldn’t have my own opinion and if I shared my opinions, I would instantly be looked down on. I was in charge of my own things and had little to no say in anything else that happened. I wasn’t even allowed to go into my mom’s room to collect things that were