Whenever I think about Washington, D.C., I think about the experience my family had in 2009. I always remember the suspension building up. I always think to myself: Why are we still here?

When it started I was at dance, just getting done with my company rehearsal. My mom and dad decided to go to a really fancy restaurant for no reason at all it seemed like. We ate for a while. Everything seemed really good. They had some of the best fries I had ever tasted. My parents seemed awkward though. It could have been awesome, it would have been a great meal, if they weren’t acting so strange. I had to pop the question. It was really bugging me, “Daddy what’s going on?”

“What are you talking about buddy?”

Just then my dad’s friend/boss walked by and told my dad, “Hey, congratulations!”

“Thanks!”

I was really starting to lose it. Something was definitely going on. “Dad please, tell me why this is happening.”

My dad looked at my mom smiling mischievously, “Should we tell them?”

My mom just shrugged. My dad took a deep breath and said, “We are moving to Washington D.C., your mom has gotten a promotion that will move us to another part of the country. We are going to start our lives over there.”

The only thing I thought was, What will I tell my friends when I go back to dance later? I was really confused. Why would we move? It made no sense. We were fine in denver. I was pretty sad too. It felt like everything I stood for, and everything I had been made to be, was ripped from under my feet. Now I knew that we were going to randomly move from one state to another because of my mom, but the only thing I was thinking was: What about me? When I got back to dance, my parents had told us everything: about how we would move, when we would move and where we would move. As a kid it was hard to take on.

“Mommy, Daddy why? I like our house. I like my friends. I don’t want to go to Washington.” It was almost like they didn’t care what I felt. In one ear and out the other with my opinion. But why is it that way? I ended up asking myself a lot.

I ended up crying a lot. I was only thinking of what I would miss.

My parents made me tell everybody in my dance studio that we were moving. It wasn’t easy. At all.

The next couple of days there was a lot of talking about what was going to happen to us and what to expect.

“ Hey everyone, I found a great job at the paper,”

“Ahhhhhhh, this is scary!”
It was nerve racking but exciting and cool in a different way. I told my family that I wanted to live in a big house in a wide expansion of grass like a two mile backyard. I think everybody agreed. Except for my six or seven year old brother who thought we should live in the whitehouse. Kids, funny they are. That’s why they’re dangerous.

After a while I got used to the idea that we were moving and did my own research on dance schools in D.C. None of them were right. Susan Onovskies girl only ballet company. Hype, nothin’ but hip hop. The modern competition school of dance. None looked like me.

“Great,” I told myself, “ another thing not to be excited about of this place.”

I still wasn’t fully used to the idea of moving.

Four weeks.

Three weeks.
Two weeks.

Two weeks before the big move, though, my parents called me downstairs to tell us something. Their faces were even more lit up then when we had been told we were moving.

“YOUGUYSYOURMOMHASDECIDEDWE’RENOTGOINGTOMOVEANDWE’REGOINGTOSTAYINDENVER!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What? A little slower please.”

“He’s trying to tell you I quit at Eurofins Medinet and have decided to stay here. It just doesn’t feel right to move,”

“Exactly! Thank you Mom.”

I was really agreeing with her. She just spoke my mind of what I had been thinking for a long time. I was happy about it. My heart did a little dance when I learned we weren’t moving.

I don’t remember much after that. The next few days were kind of a blur, telling everyone I wasn’t moving. My teachers were happy. My friends were happy. Heck even people who I didn’t like, were excited. I got lots of hugs and praise and felt very glad about my mothers decision but at the same time disappointed. We were going to be rich. Live in the Capitol. In a big house. And it was all taken away. I think back on these days and remind myself of the commotion and what I am thankful to have today. I always like to think, if we did move, where would I be now, what kind of things would I be doing. It’s important to think about, knowing I might be something I could have never been, had we moved.

The end.