The final bell of the year rang and everyone jumped up and ran to the hallways. Everyone but me. The school year had ended and everyone was excited for summer. Everyone ran to their cars and the bus to leave as fast as possible. The sooner they left, the better. For me, that wasn’t the case;  I took my time. I walked out of my class and looked around at everything. I took everything in.  The green lockers I had seen every day for the last three years. The teachers cleaning up their rooms, the janitors walking around. The trees blowing in the wind, the smell of the all the flowers.  Before I walked towards the bus, I went over to my group of friends and talked to them for a while. We talked about what we were going to be doing over the summer and how fast the year had passed before it was time to say goodbye. Unlike many of the other students at the school, I wasn’t going to be returning the next year. My father,who is in the Navy, had been given orders stating we were to move to Illinois over the summer. I said my goodbyes and took a few pictures of the school and with my friends and finally had to go home. It had been nice knowing them and growing so close over the years. As I walked to the bus, I turned around and waved at them and then continued on, knowing I would probably never see any one of the them again, but knowing they were my friends for life.

The next morning, after our final inspection, I did the same to my house. My home. My old home, now.  I walked around and thought about all the memories that had taken place here over the past three years. I looked at the blank corner and saw the place where we all gathered around the Christmas tree opening presents. I turned around at the empty wall and remembered watching movies with my family and eating popcorn. All the laughter, all the struggles and all the fun. I looked at the empty space by the kitchen where our table was just a few days before. All the days I had come home from school and sat there doing my homework. I thought about all of the times my friends stayed over and we stayed up late playing wii and ps3. All the hours we spent playing basketball, football and baseball in my front yard. I went room to room around the house one final time to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything and then went and got into the our car. As we drove away I looked back and watched the light blue, one story house fade from my view.

This wasn’t my first time moving, so I knew what to expect. I moved nine times in sixteen years so this wasn’t anything new to me. I lived in Hawaii, California, Minnesota, Texas (three different times), Washington, and Illinois.  After a while you kind of get used to the feeling and learn how to deal with it. But even though you know how to deal with it, it still feels weird knowing that for the time being, you don’t have a home. You just begin your journey to your next place and start all over. You find a new home, new friends and continue on.

Even though moving is hard and usually not that much fun, it can also be a good thing. When people talk about moving, they usually talk about the negative things. Missing friends, missing your old home, missing everything in general. And while this all may be true, moving has its advantages too. Moving as much as I do has taught me a lot of things in life, such as adaptability and flexibility.  Even though it’s sad, stressful and sometimes a pain, good things can come from moving. You learn to appreciate the things you have, the people you know, because one day you may have to leave it all behind.

For a lot of people, if you put them in a new environment, with different people, places and things, they wouldn’t know what to do. They’d lost, not knowing what to do. Moving so much has taught me how to adapt to different places, people, and things and to do it fast. It gives me an opportunity to meet a lot of new and different kinds of people and get to know them better. I learn to meet friends easily and how to fit in at different places. Moving showed me that if there is a challenge, you can always try to overcome it and move on.

Moving may have made me say goodbye to a lot of good friends but it has also allowed me to meet a lot of other great people that I would have never have met if I hadn’t have moved. Even though I may only be around them for a short period, the friendships can last a long time. I might not be able to see them, but I can still communicate with them. Wherever I am, I know that I can always talk to one of my many friends who are scattered around the U.S. Wherever I go I always meet and befriend interesting people and make long lasting friendships, and that’s not something everyone can say.

A lot of people will end up living most of their life, if not all of their life in one place. They only get to see what’s around them or have to go on vacation to see new things. Moving has made seeing new and cool things very easy. Each place I move has different things to do, eat and see. I’ve been to oceans, monuments, state parks, museums, landmarks and many other places.

For some people moving can be a pain and be something they hate doing. Something that they don’t want to do and don’t look forward to. I see it differently. Moving has a different meaning to me than to most people. I see a chance for new opportunities, people and things. It teaches me important life lessons that others might not get. I get to experience new things and meet new people. Moving has taught me how to adapt to different circumstances and how to always be ready for anything.

Each move brings new people, new experiences, a new place to call home, new things to eat, do and see. It can be sad at first, but it’s also a fun and interesting process and I am glad to have the opportunity to move as much as I do.