“What!? We’re moving!?”

?Ok, so I can see how you could be pretty confused right now. So I’ll backtrack to about a week or so ago.

?Today is September 15, 2006 and my teacher, Ms. Whitlock, has announced to me and my entire first grade class at Riverside Elementary School, that next week we will not have school Monday through Thursday due to the fact that there will be meetings and parent-teacher conferences on those days. Being a first grader, that was just about the best news that could’ve been told to me. Not because I don’t have a good time at school, but I enjoy playing outside an extreme amount more than being stuck inside a classroom for seven hours. To add to my excitement, it is Friday and I won’t be required to come to school for the next six days, but also, my birthday is only seven days away! I am already thinking of all the glorious possibilities that this week could bring.

“Ring!”

?‘Yes, finally’, was my first thought as the school bell proudly announced the end of a school day and the beginning of a week full of fun. I raced out of school with a swarm of ecstatic children behind me, searching the crowd of parents for my own. It didn’t take very long to find them, and once I found them, I took no time in describing to them that for the next week there wasn’t any school and the reason why there wasn’t going to be school. After this, I slyly snuck in this very convincing comment; ”So mom and dad, I know how having me at home for a whole week can cut into your job. So I have an idea, how about I stay at Andrew’s house this week so that you guys don’t have to miss work.”

The initial look on their faces was one of interest and as if they had a deep thought. After a few seconds, they gave each other a look that only a husband and wife could understand. Then they looked back at me, trying to look reassuring, and gave me an eerie and open-ended statement, “Sure honey, but when the week is over, we will have to tell you something.”

At this, my face lit up with joy and felt as if nothing could happen that would ruin my excitement. I jumped into the car, my mind racing and my heart pounding, and the entire ride home all I could do was just stare out the window as if I were in some sort of trance. Upon arriving to my house I packed some clothes as fast as I could and we were back on the rode headed for my best friend, Andrew’s house.

Andrew’s house wasn’t any normal house; he had everything from a tree house to a dirt bike to the best video games! Once I finally arrived at his house, we had five days full of nothing but pure fun. We did everything that could even remotely be considered fun, and on the fifth day at his house I found out that tomorrow, September 21, I would have a huge early birthday party!

Today is September 21, 2006 and it is the day of my early birthday party. You should see all of the people that are here! It seems like all of my friends from school are here with their entire family! In addition, just about every one of my family members is here to celebrate my birthday!

Throughout the day I probably got a total fifty presents! The excitement within me is so hard to explain that I won’t. One thing I will tell you is that because I was so excited and happy I was completely blind to the fact that underneath everyone’s laughs and smiles there were tears and sadness. I didn’t notice this until my parents took me to the side and explained to me that we were moving to Colorado tomorrow.

“What!? We’re moving!?

I felt crushed. Their words though came with sympathy and kindness, felt like icy cold bullets to my heart. I looked around and finally realized that I wasn’t the only one getting presents, my parents were also getting presents. I also noticed that people were teary eyed and were telling stories about their favorite memories with my family and me. This wasn’t an early birthday party; it was a good-bye party.

The rest of the day was miserable. None of my toys would ease my pain; none of my friends were any fun to play with. Nothing was going right. All I wanted to do was to go home, go to sleep and wake up and find that all of this was only a bad dream. I couldn’t even do that because everything in my house was packed except one more school outfit for tomorrow.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well that night. So today at school I was very distant in class and all of my friends acted as if I was already gone. It felt as if every person I came in contact with was punishing me, for some crime I never committed.

Then all of a sudden, the intercom crackled on and my name was called to head to the office. So I slumped out of my chair, trying to conceal my tears and did as the voice instructed and headed for the school office. My entire being was telling me not to take another step but yet my body was continuing on what seemed to be the trip to the office in my life.

When I entered the office, my parents thanked my principle and we left my school. I was so distraught and exhausted from lack of sleep and the fact that this was probably the last time I would see this school that I dropped into the car and fell straight to sleep and dreamt of all the good memories I had of Kansas.

To me, it felt like I was asleep for an eternity, so when I woke up in Colorado, I felt like I had just entered someone else’s life. The strange part of it, is that here in Colorado, everything seemed more beautiful than that of Kansas. The starry sky above was so clear that the entire Milky Way Galaxy was visible. The Rocky Mountains were so beautiful that they seemed as if they were telling me that everything would be ok with a smile and a wink on there ridged rough faces. Even the coyotes in the distance were singing a sweet melody just for me. Then a thought popped into my head, ‘Maybe moving states, won’t be so bad after all.’