Personal Narrative: My Life In Indiana

All my life, all I ever knew was Indiana. My friends, school, and favorite restaurant were all there. I didn’t want to change anything! I was 8; I thought I had my whole life together. That soon changed when my mother was offered a new job in a new state. A state... that to me was like a whole other country, a place full of new, strange and scary things.I didn’t want to leave the Krogers with a ginormous wall full of delicious jelly beans, or the Bonnie & Clyde restaurant my dad always took me to before half day kindergarten. But, I was small, no one cared about my opinions. Next thing I knew, we were gone. Goodbye Indiana! Hello corn filled Iowa… At the time that the house searching began, we stayed with my grandparents, in Brooklyn Iowa. Over a couple weeks my parents looked at multitude of houses, in a range of different areas. After a couple weeks they found one in Mount Vernon Iowa. This one, was the one they wanted to bring the whole family too! Which meant it was probably the one. The house was giant, like a palace! It was a corner lot house surrounding by 7 extremely tall trees. It was a five level, five bedrooms and four bath house, perfect for our medium sized family. As we looked around, mom and dad decided to make
an offer. During this time everyone was to stay outside with my grandparents, while they talked with the realtor. Now I didn’t have any toys or anything to do. I was bored. After thinking about how bored I was a turned my head and saw a little boy around 5 and a girl around 9 walking to the house across from ours. They seemed really nice. As they walked by they said, “Hi”. I was very nervous, so I awkwardly said it back, and they continued walking, till they were inside. There I was completely bored again. After about what felt like an hour, the little girl come outside and sat on her porch. She had something in her hands. She didn’t do anything, she just waited. My grandpa leaned over and in a raspy voice said, “She’s got a plate a cookies over there, Mallory. Go get some.” At that point in time in my life, I was very shy and nervous around new people. But, my grandpa pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I will be forever grateful for that. During the time that I walked over, I kept trying to convince myself to turn back.
I don’t know why. This person in front of me, could be mean or she could be my first friend in this unknown area. I hoped it’d be the second one. I ascended the steps and walked the path to her porch where she was sitting. As I got closer, her smile grew and so did mine! She wasn’t mean, she was sweet. I sat down next to her, and quietly said, “My name’s Mallory, what’s yours?” She replied with, “I’m Shaunna. My mom just made these cookies and I asked if I could share some with you.” She was sitting with a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies, for me! We shared some cookies and talked till my parents come back outside. What an amazing start to a new
place!
My parents ended up buying the house! The house where my new friend was always in walking distance. We became best friends faster than you can say “cookies”. I was over at her place about every other day, and when I wasn’t over there, she was at my house. Nothing could separate us. We made mud pies in the backyard, we pretended to be witches, and we jumped on the trampoline till our legs were jelly. Those were the days that we could do anything, be anything. Now we have homework and jobs. Nevertheless, we find time for each other. Honestly, this move would have been terrible if I hadn’t have met Shaunna. She managed to change my mindset about Iowa. It’s not just corn fields and pig farms, It’s tight knit families and small towns. A place where I felt comfortable. I wanted to be here.
That day is in my top 10 favorite days, because here we are today, 10 years later. I had never had a friend this long and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. We still live in the same houses, but now we’re bigger and more independent! It;s not her mom making the cookies anymore, that’s our job. We’ve been through everything together, break ups (the good and the bad), prom, deaths, family problems and even fights. Fights that had us not talking for a while, but we always managed to overcome our problems. I wouldn’t change her for the world and she would change me, at least I hope! I’m grateful for the job offer, my mom received, the job that moved us to this amazing town and state. The state that lead me to my best friend and all my other friends. Thank you, Iowa for everything.