2024/Mackenzee-

I was told to write this exact article, just a year ago. For the last Military child assignment I wrote, it was more about the hard shifts, and not enjoying moving, and how I was new to this type of lifestyle that most military children grew up like, and how I thought it kinda sucked. This year I've taken a different outlook on the ability and opportunities of being able to live and experience new places most people will never be able to visit.

I'm so lucky I got to experience living in Japan, and not being stuck in one place my whole life. Hearing from my mom who was in Indiana most of her life until she was about 32, she always talked about feeling stuck there so she decided to make a big move she always dreamt about doing, down south to either Georgia or Florida. Even though it was difficult to make a big move from her entire family and somewhere she lived her whole life, but look where that got us. To a beautiful island called Okinawa and many places after. That's just a small reason my mindset has been changing throughout this time being a military child.

I never imagined myself leaving and actually believing I can and am capable of exploring all countries around the world, but now I hope to explore the whole world as I live on. Changed my perspective more than I thought and made me envision my future so much differently and more positively. I even have been thinking about doing ROTC, just to get the experience on my own and being able to travel, but that's just an idea an option ive looked into just to get to travel and have the advantages of the military. I'm trying to look more into having a fun, adventurous life instead of sitting in an office or a hospital, because I used to be all about becoming a doctor, which would be awesome but my ideas and dreams are more different than they used to be. My dreams and aspirations aren't very difficult to achieve and have changed so much throughout the year, after having a new outlook to the military and moving around.