'Twas the Night Before the Move

As school ends and summer comes around the corner, I know it’s time when many military kids are getting ready to pack up and leave the place they once called home. I know this can be a difficult process for us all, no matter how many times we claim we are 'used to it.'  So I wrote this version of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” but as 'Twas the Night Before the Move, because I know so many military kids can relate to these feelings.

Twas the night before the move, in a half-empty house,

 All my clothes packed in boxes, even my blouse. 

A place I once loved, filled with laughter and care,

Now stood cold and quiet with no life anywhere.

I walked through my room and imagined my bed,

Where I finished my homework and rested my head.

As my parents finalize our travel road map,

I tried to settle on the air mattress for a nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a sound,

I rose from the mattress, my heart sinking down. I moved to the window slow this time,

Each step felt heavier and harder to climb.

The sun cast a glow on the driveway below,

On boxes of memories lined up in a row.

They were there in the silence staring so still

And a moving truck appeared waiting to be filled.

It wasn’t excitement that filled up my chest,

But a quiet ache that would not rest.

For there in that moment it became true,

I knew we were leaving the life that I knew.

Each room that once echoed with laughter and cheer,

Now felt like a place that would soon disappear

The walls seemed to whisper of moments we knew,

Friends that I would lose contact with and say I outgrew.

And then I heard someone say the horrible call,

We finished, and we've packed it all.

I took one last look at the place I had known,

A house full of memories, a place once my own.

But for now, a brand new future is near,

Because goodbyes come every other year.

But I held onto hope as we drove out of sight

New places, new faces… and maybe it’ll be alright.