“We moved nine times. We even lived in Africa for a year! How many times have you moved?” My neighbor and good friend, Lizzie asked. “ Ummm, I've never moved before. And wow! I can't believe you moved nine times!” I responded. “Well, my family has to move whenever and wherever my mom's job goes, and it happens A LOT!” Lizzie said. I recalled this conversation as I walked up to Lizzie's house. They love it here on Delano Park. There are big backyards to run around in, there are lots of nice kids here, and it's a safe neighborhood. Why would they ever want to move?! I thought to myself, No, no, no, they're not going to move! They already put in so much work to fix up this house, they wouldn't just flush that work down the toilet and get up and leave. I thought these crazy thoughts as I trudged through the deep snow on a beautiful December day.

When I got to Lizzie's house, the second I rang the doorbell, Lizzie came shooting down the stairs to answer the door. We decided to go outside to enjoy the new fallen snow. As we marched through the snow, Lizzie said, “At my old houses we never really got any snow, and if we did it would be like an inch deep. I just love Boston. And... of course I love how we have awesome sledding hills in the backyard!” We smiled at each other and I said, “Yeah, I know what you mean.” And with that we both ran up the sledding hill as we laughed and smiled and just had a good time, just like best friends are supposed to do.

That became a routine. I would go to Lizzie's house, ring the doorbell, and then we would go out and play. One day, I finished my homework and chores early, so naturally, I ran to Lizzie's house to see if she could hangout. I rang the doorbell once – no answer, a second time – still no answer. I waited for a moment. This was strange; Lizzie always told me before-hand if she wasn't going to be home, I thought. When I got home, I asked my mom why Lizzie wasn't home and she said, “Elizabeth's boss retired and so they went with their mom to look for a job.” My mom said, but when she saw my worried face, she quickly added, “ I'm sure it's no big deal. Don't worry.”

The next day, Lizzie called me, she told me to come to her house – quickly. I sprinted over to her house, as I thought “Was it me or was Lizzie crying?!” When I got to Lizzie's house, she was waiting on her porch for me. She said, “Yesterday my mom went job hunting and she found a job that she really likes.”

“Oh, that's great!” I said having no clue what the problem was.

“No, it's not! The job is in New Bedford – that's more than an hour away!” Lizzie said sadly, and her voice got quieter as she said: “And moving may be and option for us.”

“What?! NO! You can't move!” I screamed but Lizzie just shook her head and hugged me.
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Two weeks later, Lizzie called me and all she said was, “Meet me at the middle point” and she hung up. The “middle point” is the place right between my house and Lizzie's house. I could tell something was wrong, but I wondered what could be so important that we had to stand outside in the pouring rain, just to talk. However, as best friends, I could understand her even when little was said, and I could help her by just being there when she needed me, so I knew I had to go meet her.

I grabbed my umbrella and ran outside. Lizzie was already there waiting for me. “What's wrong?” I asked. She could barely respond through her tears, but she manged to say, “I have to move.” It was as simple as that. Someone I loved so much was leaving. I took a deep breath and asked “To New Bedford?” Lizzie nodded, and all of a sudden it seemed as if it started to rain even harder than it was before. We hugged, and comforted each other, and spent every minute of the day with each other, because that's all we could do.

When that dreaded day came, there were so many tears that you could fill up a thousand pools with them. When all of the cars and trucks were packed up to leave me and Lizzie hugged each other good bye. When Lizzie got in her car, it hit me, Lizzie was leaving and nothing could change that. I cried so much that day. I have never been so sad before in my life.

You know how you always read stories about best friends moving away, and you never really think that, that would happen to you – well, it happened to me. Me and Lizzie are still best friends and we always will be, no matter what. We call, text, and write to each other, but it's not the same as being able to see each other every single day. That's just life – having to deal with unwanted changes.