Simply put, moving might be the worst part of the military brat life. For some, moving is a fresh start. But for me, it feels like I'm forced to press the reset button every time I start to feel comfortable in my new environment. It's as if life is slapping me across the face every time I start to smile.
Last summer I experienced the hardest move of my 16 years of life. My dad got orders to Estonia, which is a former Soviet state in eastern Europe.
Days before this news broke, I was living my best life. I was in the height of my all-star baseball season, I was spending lots of time with my friends (who had become some of the best I had ever had), and heck, I had even made huge strides with a girl I liked and was planning on asking her out.
But in the blink of an eye it was all gone. Life pressed the reset button. To throw salt on the wound, my parents expressed their will to keep my brother and I in the states to finish high school. So we would move to our Aunt's place in Texas who we barely even knew. In other words, imagine your worst moving experience and then imagine your parents not being there... yeah pretty bad.
The thing I've learned about the military life is that you have to learn to deal with adversity and lots of it. Over the last few months I've had more than I can handle, but the cool thing about adversity is that it always shows you something new about life. I've learned an important lesson about life that I want to share with you today, and it's one I think resonates with every military child at some point in their journey. The fact of the matter is there is something important to be said about living in the moment in life. Being able to enjoy what you have when you have it and not taking things for granted.
Secondly, and just as importantly, don't mourn the past, but rather appreciate what happened and move on to the NOW. I would be lying to you if I said I didn't terribly miss my old life, but it didn't help me to drown in the self pity of what could have been. Instead, be appreciative of the blessings you were given and take a step forward into a new adventure.
Now, this is still a work in progress for me, but I think everyday gets better, and if you are reading this and you're in my shoes, know that things WILL GET BETTER, I promise. So keep your head up, kid, a new adventure awaits!