2023/Sophia-

I don’t remember much about my childhood in Nevada, Las Vegas, since I’ve only lived there until first grade. After my family and I moved here in Japan, I started off fresh. I made friends with people around my age, and I was able to be in the same school my mother worked at. My younger brother, Miles started school when I was in fourth grade at an off-base school. When I started middle school, about half of my friends moved back to the states and I had to start all over to square one. I still had some classmates around me, but we weren’t as close until I met some more people throughout the sixth grade year.

“Mom, I want to climb Mt. Fuji, just like you and Dad! I want to beat your record!” Miles told my parents one day. About two years after they climbed Mt. Fuji for two full days. The mountain must have been steeper than any mountain I’ve ever been on. Miles and my dad climbed to the top in less than ten hours. Every year since second grade, my family, family-friends, and I started camping every summer. The Mesinas had about three more family-friends. The Dangs, Newsomes, and Montoneos. The Dangs had a daughter and just got a new member just last fall. They are about seven and a few months old. The mother worked at the office of my elementary school, Joan K. Mendel, and their eldest daughter, Amelia used to hang out around in the morning before school. I’d always spend my free time with her, even though she was younger than me. We would always play when we had the chance and we thought of each other as sisters.

“I never got to hug or tell her good-bye.” I said once our friend group started separating. After that, my family and I would snowboard at ski resorts around Japan with new friends, the Huttons. A family of four, with an eldest daughter currently attending high school as a freshman, and a third grader son, who is currently Miles’s closest friend. Now, I’ll be leaving Yokota in about five months from now. Japan has always made me feel secure around others. I love being a military child.