It was mid February and everyone was enjoying themselves. My mother and step-father were relaxing in the living room along with our family cat, Oreo. My sisters and I were minding our own business in the backyard just hopping and running around and having a good time. The sliding glass door leading to the backyard was left open to let cool air circulate throughout the hose; the screen door remained closed. My sisters, Kayla and Madisyn, and I could hear the mumbling of our parents through the open screen as we ran passed the door chasing each other. We were laughing and giggling almost every minute; we calmed down and heard our step-dad, Paul, call our names. All of us raced inside quickly in response.

We were all sweating due to the fact that we just got done running around the backyard like complete maniacs. We all sat on a spot on our larger tan couch while my parents continued to rest on their smaller but just as comfy couch.
“Hey girls, we need to talk to you for a minute.” Paul proclaimed.
“Okay, sure.” I replied.
We quickly focused our attention on the important thing they had to say. I knew it was something serious, because both my mom and Paul wouldn’t look any of us in the eyes. They paused for a few moments, probably to collect themselves. My sisters and I had nothing important to do, so we patiently waited until my parents were ready to say what they were going to say. They took a deep breath and then said it.

“We’re moving…to Washington.” My mom had spit out the words faster than I could figure out what she was saying. It felt like I suddenly stopped breathing, because in that instant I froze. I felt like a statue, unable to move and remaining with the same expression on my face. A frown started overpowering my face; I felt it. I looked down and stared at a single thread of carpet and studied it various colors and shades only because I didn’t want to look at my parents at all. As I was thinking to myself, my eyes began to feel moist and warm. With every second that went by I felt multiple tickles crawl down my cheeks and reach their destination to the bottom of my chin. I quickly wiped the tears with my palm and was curious to see what my sisters’ reactions were like. I gently lifted my head and twisted my neck to have my face look at Kayla. She wasn’t crying, but she did have an overpowered frown on her face. I turned my head the complete opposite way to look at my other little sister Madisyn. I was surprised. She was actually excited about moving. But what do you expect from a six year old? I was overwhelmed at the thought of moving from the sunny state of California to the wet and rainy, and don’t forget cold, state of Washington.

I raced upstairs and dashed through my bedroom door. I jumped on my bed which seemed to be drowned in blankets and pillows. I grabbed the closest and easiest pillow I could reach and hid my face from everything. I cried uncontrollably now because I knew I was in the safety of my own bedroom. I knew no one would see me there. I was devastated. How could my parents actually think that moving twp whole states away was a good thing? The probably weren’t even thinking that all of the people that I have ever met in my whole entire life lived in California, and I would be gone. I thought things over for a while and re-collected myself and calmed down a bit. But I was still over the limit of upset. It just all happened so quickly.

I moped downstairs, and headed for the house phone. I just had to tell my best friend Carlos about this. I quickly dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. After a few rings he had answered.
“Hello?” he answered
“Carlos?” I questioned
“Brianna, hey what’s up?” he asked
“Nothing, I just need to tell you something really important.”
“Okay sure, but we can’t talk that long because I’m at church right now.”
“That’s okay, I just feel like I have to tell you now.”
“Go ahead.”
My eyes started tearing up again.
“My mom and step-dad just told me and my sisters that we are moving to Washington.”
“Oh my gosh Brianna, are you serious? That’s horrible.”
I agreed. It was horrible.
“Brianna I have to go but I’ll call you later okay?”
“Okay sure. Bye.”
“Bye”
I hung up a felt completely horrible. I felt like I was going to vomit due to the fact that we were actually going to move. I was thinking things over and over again and nothing at that moment could have been worse than what had just happened in the past forty-five minutes. It all happened too fast for me to grasp the fact of my family moving and actually living there.

That was the day that made a complete turn-around in my life. It went from a normal day at home, to being the worst day of my life. In little over an hour, my life had completely changed. I knew we were moving soon; I easily and quickly denied that fact. Maybe a little too easily because I had gotten my hopes up that we actually weren’t going to move and that my mom was just messing around with me. I wanted to believe that we weren’t moving at all, and that I would always live in California and grow up with all of my close friends. But I knew that was the complete opposite of what was actually going to happen. During the whole situation, one quote ran through my mind the whole time: “Goodbye California. Washington here I come.”