The Big Move

I heard my parents talking about moving many times in the past but this particular day it

seemed more serious. Especially when they caught me eavesdropping and my mother gave me

her patented side eye to move along. A few days later our doorbell rang and there was a man

standing there I didn’t recognize. Sure enough, it was a real estate agent and two hours later he

left with a contract to sell our house. I can’t believe they actually did it, my parents listed our

house! It hit me like a ton of bricks. This was the only house that I have ever known and it was

perfect; lots of room, on a cul-de-sac, huge backyard (with a trampoline), and most important of

all, had my room set up exactly the way I wanted it! What more could anyone want?!

I started to panic thinking about all kinds of things. My anxiety meter was off the chart!

What about my friends? I’ve known Isabella since preschool, we hang out almost every day and

she is the yin to my yang. She is my best friend in the whole world and now I'm never going to

see her again. I’m really going to miss Olivia and Amelia too, I have known them for almost as

long. The four of us have been inseparable since I can remember and I thought we would be

friends our whole life. What about my neighborhood?! My school was so close I could literally

roll out of bed and into class. The park and pool were right down the street. I knew where

everything was and how to get there and now I have to start over! My parents are ruining my

life!

Eventually, I had to tell my friends about the “Big Move”. It was at the end of the day

and almost the end of the school year when I first told Isabella. She took it hard. “What the

heck!?” Isabella said, “Why do you have to move?! What’s wrong with where we live?!” She

knew it wasn’t my decision but she was mad and upset anyway. I told her that my parents have

been wanting to move for a while but I thought they had given up on it. We both actually got
emotional talking about it and started to sob like babies. The next day I told my other friends. It

was an emotional day for everyone. The whole scene was straight out of a soap opera. We all just

wanted things to stay the way they were and not change. Change is bad!

Once our house was listed, we spent a lot of evenings and every weekend looking for a

new house. It was so boring it was like watching paint dry! We were looking at old houses,

newer houses, houses with one level, second floors, and on and on, it was never-ending. I would

complain to my mom, “why do I have to go?” My mom would snap back, “you’re part of this

family aren’t you!!?” I couldn’t even enjoy the last few weeks with my friends because of it.

My parents finally picked a house! We were moving to Park Ridge which is literally next

to Niles where we had been living, but it might as well have been on the moon. I felt so

uprooted. New house, new school, new people, this is a lot to handle. Ugh! Now I have to start

over! My parents are torturing me and I don’t know why!

I started to cry when we left our old house for the last time. It was really sad, my heart

was broken. But I didn't have a lot of time to think about it because those next few days and

weeks were super busy. Moving things around, unpacking, cleaning, etc, it was a lot of work.

But things started to look up. My parents gave me carte blanche to decorate my own room. Big

Mistake! Little did they know they unleashed a Million Dollar Dream Home designer! It was

actually fun decorating and organizing things the way I wanted them. My new room is much

bigger than my old room so that was cool. We actually had more space everywhere in this new

house and I got to help pick colors and furniture for all the spaces. Maybe I should look into

being an interior designer? Hehe ...

Pretty soon school was about to start and my anxiety returned. During orientation, I

realized my new school was a lot bigger than my old school. I felt so insignificant like a drop in
the bucket. This was going to be hard. The night before school I could hardly sleep just thinking

about all the different things that could go wrong like getting lost or falling downstairs between

periods, etc “Keep it together!” I told myself.

The first day of school was here. I got myself together and walked out to the bus stop. I

actually had to take a bus to school because it was that far away! Might as well have been in

another country altogether. The ride there was terrible! The bus was loud crowded, and I was

sweating from the heat and anxiety. Not a good start to the first day at a new school. I found my

entrance door and stood in line. Other students were all around me and most were laughing and

talking to people they already knew while I stood there alone. Eventually, they opened the doors

and we all went into our homerooms. I felt as if I was entering prison. We had assigned seats so I

took mine as I waited for class to start. The teacher asked us to introduce ourselves and now

everyone knew I was the new girl. Yikes! It felt like everyone was staring at me, I could feel

their eyes burning a hole through me.

Later that morning, this girl came up to me and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Brenna” she

said. “Where are you from?” We talked a little until the bell rang and she invited me to sit with

her and her friends for lunch. She introduced me to everyone and they all seemed nice. I stayed

pretty quiet and only spoke when asked a question. After lunch, I hung out with the new girls for

recess too. I started to open up a bit because it was fun being around them. After school, I told

my parents that I met new friends. My parents were happy for me and my Mom of course had to

add, “See! I told you so!” Jeez! Why are moms like that?!

I ended up hanging out with those same girls from that day on. Soon I started hanging out

with them on weekends and we all went to each other's birthdays. Most of those girls are still my

friends to this day. Plus, the whole time I stayed in touch with my old friends too. We would get
together now and then and see each other on holidays or for sports activities. My new house is

awesome. We have a big finished basement so I can have friends over and we have our own

space to hang out in private. Except for the occasional time my brother crashes the party and has

to be escorted out of the space. I even like my new community, lots of things to do, a great park

district and sports programs, and I love going to Uptown to people-watch and hang out. Turns

out, change is not always bad…...