Getting settled and moving forward

The hardest thing for my family to get used in Florida was the weather and the terrain. There were no hills to roll down, no moutains to climb and just walking to the car would make you break out into a heavy sweat. Luckily my brother and I were kids and it didn't seem to effect us as much.

Carl and I had become fast friends. We were always playing together outside, we went to the same school and had the same class. We were inseparable. His older brother Chad (older by 2 yrs) would also play with us. Everyday after school, we'd run home, drop off our books, change and jump on our bikes in pursuit of that days adventure.

1 of the 1st things my parents did when we all got settled into our new life was get season passes for the whole family to Disney World. We went every Sat. and sometimes Sunday if we didn't go to Church. By the time Winter came along, my brother and I would beg NOT to go. We had had enough of Disney and Epcot.

Excited Winter was finally arriving as it's a huge holiday for my family. What we didn't expect was the type of weather. Instead of playing in the snow on Christmas morning like we had done for so many years prior, we packed up the car and headed to the beach. It was over 80 degrees and still humid. Who would have thought we would be out sweating and wearing bathing suits on Christmas?? Though the family became really homesick at that time, playing in the surf and sand was a nice change.

Within a year my parents decided they wanted to move to another apartment closer to the front of the complex. Apparently, the back of the complex got really loud and noisy at night and the whole family was having trouble sleeping. Not long after we moved into our new apartment, Carl broke the news to me that his family was moving away. His dad (who was in the Reserves and also worked for the Army as a civilian) got transferred to South Carolina. They were leaving in 4 wks and my world got turned upside down. He was my best friend and my heart was broken knowing that I'd never see him again.

During this time, my mom decided she wanted to go back to work and found a job only 1 block away from our apartment. Which is good since we only had 1 car and my dad used that. Back in PA, everything we ever really needed was within walking distance so there was no need for more than 1 vehicle. Since it was close, she was able to walk to and from work, even in the heat. (She loves the heat and hates the cold) It didn't take her long to get promoted and soon she was a manager. With that, the family decided it was time to move into a house. My brother wanted to stay at the same school, so finding a house was limited. Since my best friend was gone, I could care less where I went. We eventually found a house to rent that was close to the county line so he would still be able to go to his school, though I had to transfer.

We moved in to a bigger place, though it still wasn't as large as our old house. There were only a few kids in this neighborhood and no one seemed to play outside. It took me awhile to make friends with anyone but when I did, I was lucky that she was also placed in my same class. Since the school was so close to our house, Vanessa and I would ride our bikes together every morning and afternoon. My parents now needed another car since we moved further away from both of their jobs and it was strange to come home to an empty house. I was so used to my mom being there when I got home from school and I started to really miss that. Now, instead of meeting me at the door when I got home, neither of them barely made it home before 6pm every night. My brother was now in high school and even though he got out before I did, he hardly ever came straight home and stayed there. Normally he was out with his friends, so I started to go over Vanessa's house every day.

She had just recently moved down from New York and was the new kid on the block just like me. Neither of us new anyone so that was our common thread. Though I really enjoyed hanging out with her, I really didn't like being at her house. Her family was Columbian and her father was super strict with her. She had an older brother like I did, and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. However, Vanessa and I weren't allowed to go outside very much once we got home from school. Her house always smelled of a mixture of mothballs and rice and in the beginning, the smell wasn't too bad. After a week of smelling it though, I was glad it was Friday and I wouldn't have to smell it for a few days. Plus, her father yelled all the time. I never really knew what he was saying because he would say it in Spanish, but I could tell it wasn't a good thing. I got the feeling he didn't like me, for whatever reason, by the way he'd glare at me when I was over there.

The years passed and I was about to enter middle school. I was excited but scared. When I was in 5th grade, we had the same teacher just about all day. The only time it changed was when we had P.E. or a few times a wk we'd have art or chorus. Now, entering 6th grade... a new school, 6 classes with 6 different teachers and the classes were spread around the whole campus. Compared to my Elementary school, this new school was huge! I knew that I would have some troubles there, but I figured they be simple ones like getting lost on campus, or the school work being a little tougher, but I had no idea that my life would change so drastically.