2023/Emma-23601

I realized that my military life made me different from other kids in the sixth grade. I had lived in the same place from Kindergarten through third grade. When I moved in third grade I thought it was normal. I moved to Virginia from Florida. I went to school and made friends. After going to fourth grade and fifth grade in Virginia I moved back to a different part of Florida. I got my friends phone numbers and I thought of how long it’s been since I saw them in third grade. I started talking to them and I thought that they’d be at separate schools and maybe different places. However they still lived in the same place and in the same houses they’ve lived in their entire life. They still went to the same school too. So many of the people I was with in third grade were going to middle school together. It made me realize how little people move. It made me think about how, when everyone else stays the same, I’m always changing locations and friends. This has made me paranoid about leaving people behind. However when I move to more remote locations I have friends who constantly move too, so it makes it a little more normal to be a military child. The fact that my friends had stayed in the same place their whole lives and I keep moving makes me feel different but I also feel included when I’m with other military kids. When I move away I never dwell on the past. I move on quickly and adjust to my new life. That's also what makes me different from military kids as well. Military children always talk about the pain and struggle of leaving their friends behind and adjusting to a new life. I’ve never struggled with leaving behind people as much so that’s one way I’m different from other military kids as well. When I talk about the places I’ve been and the experiences I experience, Sometimes my dad tells me that some kids my age never leave their small town in the much less the United States and that makes me grateful knowing that I get opportunities to travel the world.