Imagine living with both of your parents, next to your family and your best friends, really,  truly feeling comfortable and happy at home. Then suddenly one day you get the news that you are going to move far away from one of your parents and all of your friends.

I was nine when I got this news that I was going to the U.S with my mom and brother but my dad couldn’t come with us because my grandma didn’t ask for him to come with us. I was excited because I was going to see snow and learn new stuff, but at the same time I was really enraged and overwhelmed because I was going to leave without my dad and I was going to move away from all my family and friends and I had to start over.

To get ready for the move, I had to pack my clothes and stuffed animals only. It was pretty crazy that I could fix everything I owned in one suitcase, but I did. I’d never be able to do that today. When the day came I said my goodbye’s to my family and friends and then, we went off to the airport.

Colombia at the time was okay there was too much shooting and it was hard to get a job, everything was very expensive and I couldn’t get a lot of things that I wanted. I wanted to move to another place because there was a lot of shooting, I didn’t really understand those things because I was only nine years old but my family broke apart and half of the friends that I had don’t even speak to me anymore.

When we got to the U.S we obviously didn’t have a house, a car, so my uncle had to pick us up and we had to live with him for five years, my mom didn’t talk to my dad anymore because they broke up two years after that happened my mom got a boyfriend. My uncle and his wife both looked for a house that was bigger it was hard living with them in the small house because there was a lot of arguing and I didn’t feel comfortable with them at first because I didn’t know him that much and I was new to the houses in Lowell and they were different, there was barely room for all of us it was my uncle, his wife, their daughter, my mom, my brother and me there was only two rooms and one bathroom we couldn’t take long showers because my uncle and aunt worked, after my uncle got a bigger house and being with them for six years I felt more comfortable because I got to know them better and get used to living with more people than usual.

We finally moved out of my Uncle’s house about three years ago.  My mom and her boyfriend found a house.  Things are good now.  I wouldn’t go back to Colombia because the things I have here, I wouldn’t have them there.  Looking back on it, I appreciate it now that my grandmother brought us over here. 

Anyone that is going through the same thing as me I know that leaving your family and friends to move to a different country or state that you don’t even know the language and you won’t even be able to go out because you have no friends, and you have to start all over it’s better to think about your future and yourself than how your family and friends feel about you leaving them.