It was Christmas break the last time I walked out of the old, soot streaked building that was my high school. I remember that day well, for it was probably one the most momentous moments of my life. The other students had streamed gleefully out the door to jumpstart their holidays, their unavoidable return in the following two weeks seeming distant. Unlike them, I wasn’t ever coming back. I had taken a second to look back at the school and let myself take in the significance of that moment. I was moving, in the very middle of my freshman year, and I had felt as if my life would never be the same. During the Christmas break, my family and I loaded up our stuff and left that itty-bitty town in south-west Virginia.

For most of the time, I distracted myself from my longing for my old town with the challenging task of unpacking boxes and getting my room just so. That was fine for a while, but then my cat went missing. Earlier I had locked her in a bathroom because I was afraid she would get outside with the doors being opened and closed as furniture was brought in. I checked on her later only to find her gone. Immediately thinking the worst, I had run outside and frantically called out her name until I was hoarse. In that moment, the exasperating cat that keeps me up at night was the very quintessence of my being. I had started crying for her, for the people I left behind, and the change yet to come. Losing her made me realize how much I had just lost in my life. That story, however, ends well. She wasn’t running wild through the neighborhood like I had thought. Instead, she was still in the bathroom; I neglected to see her hiding behind the cabinet.

Then came the daunting, the inevitable, new school. My moving affected me greatest in this way. Thinking back about the first day, it’s like I’m looking at it through someone else’s eyes; I see a girl standing by the door of the office and clutching a small silver necklace strung around her neck. If one was to look, they would see it held an engraving – Close to the heart, together from the start, best friends will never part. That meant everything to me that very uncertain day. As I sat in classes where everyone had a face and a name that was unknown to me, I would touch the cool metal and be reminded of the best friend that missed me just as much as I missed her. Not only did I not know anyone, but I also was in a class with only upperclassman. The academics were different in Virginia where some students took geometry in their freshman year, which I had been in the middle of when I moved. Those first few days definitely weren’t easy for me, but they did bring out a strength in me that I didn’t realize I possessed.

It’s been almost a year now since I unpacked the first of the boxes. I’ve discovered all the nooks and crannies of my new house. I have finally begun accepting that I am a rebel, and that it’s not just my school’s mascot. Also, I’ve made friends that I cherish just as much as the ones from Abingdon. However, I do miss things from before I moved. The memories I have there will always be a part of me, but my future lies here in Kingsport. I’ll get my first job and maybe buy my first car here. In the spring of 2016, I’ll even graduate wearing that light blue robe. Beyond that, I don’t know how much my move will affect me, for life is uncertain. I will just take it as it comes.