This MLM will be a scattered post dedicated to all the moving I endured in my life. I was only a military child until I was 4, but we still seemed to hope around from house to house. This is how I remember not really having roots growing up.
I was born in Seoul, South Korea on November 11, 1977. We lived there until my grandmother died the following year. I was around 18 months old when we left for the US. (I know technically I don't remember this move, but I thought I'd throw it in there since it was my first move.)
We lived in North Vernon, IN. I still remember the location even though I was very young when we lived there. I'm guessing my mother chose to live here because her oldest sister lived there. (She still lives in the same town, in the same house that her husband grew up in.) We lived in a neighborhood down the street from the high school. We stayed till I was around 3.
We lived in Fort Knox, KY. My father was stationed here. We lived in the military apartment complex so there were lots of children running around and there was a huge playground to play on. There were also plenty of Korean women on this base, so my mom felt right at home. My aunt Tina also lived with us for a little while, though I don't remember her living with us. We stayed till I was about 4.
We lived in St. Cloud, FL. We lived in an apartment complex. I don't think that my dad lived with us at this point, but my Korean grandfather did. I think my mom picked this place to live because she was a single mom and her sister's in laws lived right down the road from us and would watch me all the time while my mom was at work. I have a lot of great memories with them. We lived there till I was in 2nd grade.
We lived in Kissimmee, FL. We lived in a yellowish-beige house that had arches in front. I would say it was a Spanish style type house. Not with the tiled roof or anything, just in the outside architectural design. There were a few kids in the neighborhood to play with and it was really close to school so I walked. (The elementary school was right across the street.) I have many memories of this place. The friends I made, the adventures we had, the family who came and went. This is the house where I said goodbye to my
We lived in Deltona, FL. This was a hard move for me. We lived in a rental house, me, my aunt Angie, my dad, my sister and on the weekends, my mother. My father got a new job with a different company and my mother was still working her old job in Kissimmee, so she would be gone for the week, and come live with us on the weekend. It was a really hard transition for me, the move and to a new school, let alone middle school. I skipped a lot of school in this house, which I had NEVER done before. I also got the chicken pox in this house. We stayed here for a few months.
We still are in Deltona, FL but are in a house my parents bought. I was still in 6th grade. I like this house a lot. My mother was finally with us for good. We added another aunt to the household and also welcomed my brother to the family in this house. I have many memories, good and bad in this house. I entered high school and went through many growing pains in this house. I knew what it felt to be violated in this house when some teenagers decided to break in our house while we were asleep and steel a few pieces of jewelery and my mother's purse. (Later, they came back for the car that sat outside our garage.) I lost one best-friend(s) and gained another. We stayed here until I was half way through my junior year in high school.
We lived in North Vernon, IN. Oh how I hated this house. I despised living here, in this house and all it represented. I hated the high school I went to. I hated that I had to spend my senior year with strangers and not fully appreciate the culmination of all my hard work in school. I experienced racism directed at me for the very first time in this house. I counted down the days until I would be out of this house.
That was the last move I made with my family. I lived in Muncie, IN where I attended Ball State University. I would occasionally go back to that house and live with my parents during the summer, but that house was not my home anymore. My family moved back to Florida my junior year of college so they could be closer to my dying grandmother. After college I lived with Jerry and we began a new chapter of not having roots and moving from place to place. But that journey will be saved for another day.
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