Have you ever had to move in your life? Have you ever had to leave all that you have ever known and relocate to a new town, a now school, a now house. I never truly understood how hard moving would be until it actually happened Especially if that person is under ten years old. That is what happened to me, my dad accepted a job in Northern Michigan, we tried to make it work for a couple of months, but it got to be too much, he was gone for weeks at a time, with only the weekends usually in between. Eventually it became just too hard to do anything, we started looking for buyers for our house and houses for sale in Northern Michigan. Three months later our house sold and we were living in a hotel for another two months until we could finally move into the house that we had chosen. The hardships that I went through during this move is why it occurred to be to this point, the greatest challenge of my life.
    The hardest part for my family was moving to a whole new house. A different neighborhood, new furniture and a contrasting feel from our old house, it just didn’t feel like home yet. When we first moved into our new house, it could scarcely be more bare, there was not a single piece of furniture, kitchen implements,and even lights were nonexistent. We are still working on fixing our house, though we are for the most part done, there are still a few things. When we first moved in the house was in terrible condition, we had to tear out all the drywall and replace it. They were so soaked with animal urine it stunk for a year after we tore it out. We had to sleep on a mattress on the floor in the master bedroom until we could replace it all. It took another year before we had a comfortable home to reside in.
    The hardest part for me socially was the move away from my friends at the school that I was leaving. I missed my friends very much during my first year here in Elk Rapids. They were the teammates for all my sports, the people that came over to my house on weekends and the friends that I hung out with on a regular basis. My first year here was difficult in my ten year old brain, I made friends, but they were not to be cemented in place until the next year in fifth grade. It became confusing for me during the sports season my fourth grade year. I did not know the players or the coaches, and they did not know me. Although I enjoyed playing football that year as I always do, it could have been a more productive year for me as an athlete. Although this was an issue for my first year as an Elk Rapids student, I would surpass it within a year.
    The third hardest part of the relocation was the new school. There were new teachers to learn the names of and a whole different layout from my old school. My old school had two floors, not only did Lakeland have but one floor, it had a alien feel to it. This school had a feel to it that was quite different from my old school. This school had requirements that were altered from the standards of my previous school. There were more reading requirements and higher grades needed to play sports. The standard for playing sports at my previous school was a fail in any class, here it is a D plus in any class. The teachers at Lakeland had peculiar standards compared to the teachers at my old school, which is called Schall Elementary. What was funny about the two schools was the elementary situation. Each school has two elementaries, the setup was just a little different though. My old schools a school for grades pre-k through second grade. Then a school for third grade for grades three through five.
    This move was the hardest point in my life to date. I had to overcome many challenges to get to the point that I am at now. The roads were bumpy for some of the way, but I persevered and made it through. If I had made only a few different choices my life today would have been much different than it is now. I endured a new house that I had to make into a home. Made new friends after I moved away from all of my old ones. Finally I entered a new school, with different expectations and new teachers. All when I was only ten years old. All these challenges added together is what made it to this point, the most challenging point in my life.