All my life, all I have done is move, from continent to continent, from state to state. While others would consider this inconvenient, I consider myself lucky and fortunate. Military life isn’t for everyone, but I feel that I was born for it. If I hadn’t been born into it, I still know I would’ve gotten restless staying in one place for most of my life before going off to college. Every place I moved to, I had to restart, and I always felt like a seed in the wind having to land and bloom. I had new friends, a new house, new environment, everything. I would always be intimidated at first until I realized that I was either in a place where everyone was in the same boat as I or I just had to be myself among people who have lived in this place their whole lives, being life long friends with many others in the school. I kind of just waltzed in and had to find my place. Luckily it was never difficult, I always found some great people to surround myself with and experience as much of this kind of life as I could. I have always been resilient in the sense of being in a new place every few years, but nowadays, resiliency has to be a staple within myself. Show in moving to my aunt’s house in March of last year for a month when the pandemic started to flying back to Germany to be with my parents for the last few months of living there before my dad retired from the Air Force, to moving to Florida in July and driving to NYC to move my stuff out of my apartment. Staying in Florida for 4 months was by far the hardest place to live last year, so when we left in October to drive to Virginia Beach and stay for a week, I was relieved. From Virginia Beach, we left for New Jersey, ready to start the next chapter of our lives. Staying at my aunt and uncle’s house for a month before we finally found a temporary apartment to live in was definitely a challenge but we were grateful for the hospitality without a doubt. Now, here we are living in this apartment, looking to either move to Virginia Beach or Italy if my dad gets a job in either place. Over the summer, around July, I am also moving back to NYC, so I am excited about that more than anything, but I’m not at that point in time yet. The up in the air plans for where I am moving next is definitely not a new occurrence, but it is a new occurrence of how much I have moved within a year. The pandemic has thrown my family and me so many curveballs, as it has everyone else in the world. These instances in my life, especially those that have happened recently and those happening right now, contribute to the fact that “Bloom Where You Are Planted” is now my life’s motto. Always learn how to take things in stride.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MMM chapter.