2024/Angelica-

I am a retired military child. My dad worked for the Navy for 23 years and 3 months and retired in October of 2023. I was born when my parents were stationed in Yokosuka and then we moved to North Carolina for 3 years. I don’t remember much from NC.

After North Carolina, I moved to Naples, Italy. I remember a lot from Naples. I remember having the base furniture as we waited for our stuff to arrive. When our stuff got there, I remember unpacking everything with my parents and re-building furniture with my dad. We had an attic in the tower with many sections for each family to use. I loved going up there with my parents to go unlock our door to look at all the stuff in the room. I remember walking to school with my mom and my brother every day. I remember when we found a baby bird in the road and took care of him until he passed away a couple weeks later. I remember going to many places in Europe like Italy, Holland, Germany, Spain, and Finland. Those trips were really fun. I remember coming back from school one day and hearing that my great grandma passed away and skipped school to go to Japan for her funeral.

After Italy, we stationed to Iwakuni, Japan. My family was so excited because we were able to be close to our grandparents and finally have traditional Japanese food again. I remember going back to school. I remember growing up in the same house for seven years. I remember making new friends that would come and go. These tiny memories are the things that build up my life and create my adventure, but the most important thing is that I had all these adventures and obstacles with my family.