Goodbyes and Hellos

This article was sent to us by Ellanora W., an 11th grader Marine Brat stationed in Utah. Do you have a story to share with your fellow military teens? Visit our guest contribution page to find out how you can submit to Bloom!

Say goodbye

Once again another goodbye

Goodbye friends

Goodbye house I used to call home

Goodbye school I used to wander

Goodbye barn that brought it all back

Hello, a phrase I’m sick of hearing

Hello to the new room

Hello to the new school

Hello to the new barn, please don’t destroy it all

Hello memories, I hate to make

People say goodbyes are the hardest

They've never said hello thousands of times

See you later, alligator

In a while, crocodile

That’s what they used to say

Little me waving goodbye

I wish I knew then that it wouldn't be the last time

Year after year

Move after move

People say they understand

But do they really?

“I’ve moved before too! It was so hard.”

You moved three blocks

I’ve moved 3,000 miles

New room color

Choosing a new duvet

I want consistency

This is all I can control

You let go of it all

The friends

The “normal:

I don’t have a “normal” life

I get three choices

What school?

School, the place I dread

One class to the next

“Should I have said that?”

Thoughts running through my head

How can I screw it up this time?

What barn?

Horses, my safe haven

The only place I truly feel like myself

Block out the noise

The voice dragging me down

Can’t drag you down over an over

My room

Sleep, the final step

My room I choose to sleep in

What color should it be

Pink? Blue? Maybe purple?

This time, it will be green

Green the color of luck

But am I lucky?

People say "You're lucky”

But you don’t get it

You’ve had the same friends since kindergarten

Live in the same house

And go to the same school your parents did

My “lucky” is I got to see the space museum in Florida

You’re missing my point

The underlying issue no one seems to see

It’s more than just a move

It’s leaving everything I know and love behind

And yes, I go on amazing trips

Those trips happen to make me forget I’m leaving my life behind

Parents, gosh I feel bad for them

Telling their kids, “Here we go again”

Opening that letter praying it’s what they want

California? Colorado? Virginia? Japan?

Where to next?

They hide the fear and sadness

Making it seem happy

It hurts them as much as it hurts me

One more move

One more goodbye

One more location

One last stop

The place to be

Oh, how I can’t wait to be free

No more see you laters

No more goodbyes

Just one last time

Only hellos or so I've been told

Just one last time

I've done it thousands of times

What's a thousand and one?