If I started off by saying “Hi my name is…” it seems a little too unoriginal. Identity is unique from person to person, so are values. My friends, family, and lifestyle affect my personality and who I am to this day. Whether it be texting about the latest drama in my group of friends, or settling down for a quiet night with my mom, my values never shift.

Friends are one of the biggest parts of my life. They are the people you can call up at six in the morning, even if they’re sleeping, they’ll listen to you. They’re my shoulder to lean on, and my biggest source of support. Naturally you would want to open up to your friends or someone your own age. Since I’m an only child, I am able to go to my friends, with no question and talk to them.


Now let’s try family on for size. No matter how many times I fall, they’ve always offered me a hand up, of course giving the “try harder next time” lecture, but who hasn’t heard that one before. I guess a big influence on my life is my Aunt Patricia, known in my family as “Pappa”. My oldest cousins couldn’t pronounce her real name, so he called her Pappa and it stuck. My aunt and I both love watching movies and visiting beaches, and adding to that, we both blow out our birthday candles on the same day-August 20th.


Three moving trucks ago; I started out in a small city in Connecticut, and then relocated to a different town in that state. A few years later I was flying off to California, a five hour plane ride, kissing everything I’d known goodbye. After moving to San Francisco I realized how much bigger and diverse the world is. A year after I moved to San Francisco, I found myself living outside of Chicago after a two day road trip. Hearing people tell me I was moving to the Windy City and Chicagoland made me cringe and feel sick to my stomach hearing it over and over like a broken record player instead of feeling those joyous feelings I was supposed to about moving to such a great city.


My freshman year in high school had a rocky start. After my parents divorced, my mother and I decided to relocate to Georgia, which was close to family. I had flown down to Georgia, by myself to start over, as some people call it. I moved ahead of my mother to start school on time. I lived in a house consisting of: my aunt, and two young power ranger loving boy cousins. This was too large of an undertaking for me. Just about a month later I got a plane ticket home. Together my mom and I decided this wasn’t the right move for us.


Throughout all of these moves I watched my friends come in and out of my life. What I learned is, to enjoy the times you share with them. Be there for your friends when it really matters, because I’ve figured out that they mean more to me than I ever thought possible. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have them next to me saying “watch out for the street sign right in front of you” while nearly face planting into one, which sadly almost happened to me. When it comes down to it, you know your family will be there for you no matter what life decisions you make, and that’s what counts. People say “You’re so lucky” after they hear I’ve been moving around my whole life, I laugh. When I think about the life I could have built staying in one place and the people I would still be friends with I would have jumped at that. But it wouldn’t make who I am today. It’d make me some girl from a small town in Connecticut, listening to country. Truly that’s not who I am today. I’m intrigued by the variety of music there is today, I’m living in Oak Park, and my social life is thriving.