Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Tumultuous Moves


Have you ever been uprooted? Has your life ever been shaken to its core because of a move? Sometimes the timing of a move is as important as the move itself.

This happened to me between 6th and 7th grade. At the time, that was the transition between elementary and middle school. Our family moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania. Not only was I uprooted from the only home I had ever known and all of my friends, but I was placed in a new school among people who had their own friends and their own cliques already established. For an 11 year old girl, this was a fate worse than death!

I was shy to begin with. Some of this may have had to do with having lost my father at the age of 4 and having to "grow up" so fast. Because of the loss of my father, my mother suffered severe depression, so I was often the caretaker instead of being taken care of. I never had many friends, and had never learned HOW to make friends. My life was centered at home. Move me out of what little comfort I had, take away what few friends I had made over the last 7 years, and I was lost.

It took me a full two years to recover from the move and finally make a few good friends. During that time, I primarily kept in touch with my old friends from Ohio and kept a few penpals. One of the first friends I did make remains my best lifelong friend to this day! She befriended me when no one else would, and we truly became BFFs. I think back now and know it would've been much easier for me if I had not been so shy then. But it was what it was, and the experience helped to shape me. And if it weren't for those few years, I wouldn't have Nancy in my life today. I wouldn't trade her for anything!

I believe everything happens for a reason and that we are where we are at any given time because we are meant to be. It is important in our lives, or in someone elses' or both. This is another meaning attached to PIVOTAL EVENTS. Please feel free to share your stories with me to let me know I was not alone!

3 comments:

  1. Please feel free to share your stories via comments or email!

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  2. Moving is brutal! I moved from Ohio to PA in 4th grade, then PA to Virginia in 5th. When it was hard to make friends I turned my attention to books and I attribute my love of learning to the tough times I had then.

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  3. I agree Jacquelyn, that these types of events early in life shape us. They were traumatic at the time, and felt like the end of the world, but we would not be who we are today without them. Thank you for your comment!

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