2025/Dwayne-

A home to me is a place where I feel the happiest like being loved, laughing, and spending time with friends and family. When I think of home I don’t think of a building with walls and a roof, there is more than that. Playing with friends and being with my family is where I laugh a lot and is the most enjoyable place I can be at. The place I call home is Okinawa Japan, where my family had the best days we’ve ever experienced. Why this place is called my home is because the memories my friends have had together playing outside, whether it's playing basketball, hide and seek, or trading cards. Everyday after school we would have a place to meet up with each other after school which was a park, then we would decide as a group what we wanted to play. Most of the time we would have a basketball tournament going on that lasted for a couple days and we would always play so competitively.

Another reason why I call this place home is because of the places my family has experienced, like going to the beach, camping, and going far out in the forest to take a walk. One of my favorite memories in Okinawa was my 12th Birthday when I got a PS5, basketball cards, and went shopping at the mall with my friends. Every summer it would reach around the 70s and 80s and we would set up a slip n slide down a hill and have a sprinkler on our trampoline to relieve the heat. The last reason why I call Okinawa home is because of all the basketball camps I had and the exposure of going off base for a special training. I had always loved playing basketball, I have been playing since I was 7 years old. Why I loved playing basketball so much is because I can meet new people and make friends and just think it's fun to play. From all the memories of living there for 7-8 years, this is the story of why I call Okinawa home.