Personal Narrative: Moving To Virginia

“What?!?” I blurted out promptly after my parents delivered the news. They just informed my siblings and I that we were going to be moving. Not just to somewhere nearby, either; to a different city or a neighboring state. We were going to be moving from our house in Virginia, all the way across the country, to Washington state. That is when I realized that my whole life that I had known was going to be gone. Life as I knew it was going to inevitably end. For quite a while, I could not come to terms as to why we were going to move. I asked the same questions over and over again in my head; “Was not Dad’s job sufficient here? Why did we have to live closer to family? What about all of our friends here? How could we just leave them like that?”
Despite our plea arguments and reasoning, everything still boiled down to my parents’ decision. No matter how much me and my siblings debated with them, what was said was said, and what was done was done. We were moving. It was the end of the school year when we found out the news, so when people asked what my plans were for the summer, I told them that we were packing everything up and moving across the nation. The majority of their responses were “Good Luck!” and “Hope you like your new home!”, but I did not know what to think about for the future that was now presented to me. I contemplated whether I could find a way to enjoy this move of ours, but I kept coming back to the same recurring thought in my head of how I did not know any other life than that of which I lived in Virginia. Although I was born in California, we moved before my second birthday, so any time spent there was negligibly forgotten. I was going to be confronted by new classmates, new neighbors, new teachers that my siblings did not have the opportunity to be taught by them before I did, and of course, the inevitable dilemma of having to make new friends.
Summer finally rolled around, and with school out of the way, My family and I started boxing everything.
We boxed the utensils, our clothes, our toys, EVERYTHING, in order to load our belongings into the moving truck. A week and a half prior to our actual moving day, our house was empty, with nothing but some blankets, pillows, and the bags we were taking on our drive. Sleeping on the ground, instead of our beds, was uncomfortable as the ground had very little cushion with it being carpeted, but still did not contour to our bodies, leaving us sore in the morning. Throughout the night we would wake up more often, not only because of discomfort, but because of the plethora of noises we could now hear without the sound dampening furniture. Conversations being held downstairs could now be heard upstairs as everything we said echoed throughout the house, and the small, creepy sounds at night were more real than ever as we could not ignore their increased volumes. We would wake up and each of our backs would be stiff and we would still be a little tired as we did not sleep as well as we could have in beds. Time flew by fast like a strong fall gust of wind, and moving day was soon to be upon
us.
The evening before we left, we decided to make a trip over to my best friend’s house a little down the block and up the hill, from where we could clearly observe the sun setting, making the sky turn a deep orange. Once we entered the house, both our mothers exchanged tears and I, myself, even shed a few. I did not want to say goodbye. Our farewells were formal and predictable, with the normal “Wish you the best of luck at your new home!” followed “We are going to miss having your family and the friendships we have made”, which although typical, range with true sentiments. My friend Tyler, though, thought that we were just moving to Washington, D.C., so he could not grasp what the big deal was, since D.C. was just thirty minutes away. After we said our goodbyes, we were off on our exciting escapade. At this point, I accepted that we were moving and decided to no longer dwell on my bitter thoughts about it, unlike my initial reaction, which was filled with confusion and some rejection. When we accommodated ourselves in Washington, I initially found a difficult time finding where I belonged in school, but that challenge changed my attitude from focusing on the social aspect on school, onto my actual academic position. In Virginia I always received passing and above average reports from school, but now I switched focus and cared more about the learning and doing the utmost I could possibly do to excel in school and be one of, if not the top student in my class, and I still feel like that today. I was more extroverted when I lived in Virginia, but becoming more of an introvert changed me for the better. I have since then become more aware of my surroundings and more prudent in my day to day decisions, and have more of a perspective of my actions now, relative to where I want to be in the future. I am today still grateful for my parents’ decision for us to move. Without that personal growth, I might have grown to be a dramatic and impulsive snob. I consider myself to be a reasonable person, but it was because of that monumental change in my life that helped me refocus my life towards what I envision my high potential future can be. In Virginia, I was a more outgoing child who was not afraid to talk anywhere or anytime.
I honestly had very little humility and minimal shame for my actions. I was reprimanded often by my educators for my insistent talking in class, and suffered punishment at times of having to stay in from recess. When I moved, that all changed. I became shy because I did not know anyone, and made a tendency of being more introspective. I rarely talked, and avoided all possible action that would bring punishment or lure me into trouble. I sought after respect and praise from teachers in my work and academic accomplishments, which I focused more on since I no longer desired massive interaction with my peers. Overall, my life was flipped around and put me on a path facing a future of success and higher
potential. With a majority of my focus being diverted from sociality and put into school now, I had quickly risen to the top of the class and gained the favor of teachers and other adults that surrounded me in my life. In addition to more energy and effort directed towards school, because I was not as social, I was able to spend more time with my family and develop better relationships with them, my siblings especially, because I have always been on decent terms with my parents. Now, me and my siblings are not perfect, of course we still experience times where we quarrel, but once we moved, I acquired the opportunity to spend more quality time with them and grow closer than we had ever been before. I believe that keeping close ties and bonds with my family is a crucial part of seeking true joy in this life on Earth. I was able to acquire much more joy with my family than I had ever before, and I still do to this very day. I still appreciate and cherish time spent with my family, and consider myself to be on exceptional terms with everyone in my immediate family. Moving is not always easy, and more often than not, people will carry some emotional baggage that is not fun to bear. But we must learn to move past them. We need to look for the good in life and seek to make the most out of this life and reach to the best of our ability, our highest potential. My family's move from Virginia to Washington, did not take my life away, but instead gave me a new one that was better and headed in a more preferable direction. It was not the end, but a new beginning.