Leaving Home I can still remember the day I knew I wanted to move to Arizona. I was in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, working a new store opening for Longhorn Steakhouse. It was a Saturday night and we were getting slammed in the kitchen. My job was to train and coach the new cooks through the shift. I was sweating like I was running a marathon in the summer heat of Arizona. After the big push of guests came through the kitchen, and the new cooks could handle the line, the trainers and I headed to the back line to get a start on the prep for Sunday. I overheard my Training Coordinator talking to some of the other trainers about Arizona. My training Coordinator was telling us that Longhorn had plans to build a store in Chandler, Arizona. He was telling me that Arizona was close to many great places like the Grand Canyon, California, Las Vegas, and Skiing in Colorado. Arizona was really appealing to me because I have never had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling in my life. At that moment, I told myself I was moving to Arizona. I originally had planned on working the new store opening to see if moving to Arizona was what I really wanted to do. When I arrived back to my home store in Columbus, Ohio, I started talking to my managers about my plans. They told me that I would have a job if I decided it was something I wanted to do. I talked to the Regional Manager that was going to be responsible for the store in Arizona. I found out that I couldn’t work the opening because they already had a training team selected. I talked to my general manager again to tell him that I wanted to leave by the first of the year. He told me that I couldn’t, because if I left, he could not staff his kitchen. He told me that I would have to give him time to replace me. I think the whole idea of that move was in hope that I would change my mind. I talked to my Mom about my plans, and she was actually really excited for me. She knew that I really was not happy with my situation in Ohio.
My future as in graduating, opportunities, and going to college were becoming limited in my eyes. In knowing that was the best decision to move, I have
Her face was priceless; Her happiness was my source of happiness at the moment. I came home to my parents in the living room and decided to approach them with my decision, as I did to tell them I would like to apply to University of South Carolina - Upstate as well; they were just as happy as Kaylee. I have a very close-knit family and they were exited I would consider a school only 30 miles away from home. My mother said in Arabic “Just think, you can still come home to a good meal whenever you desire”. I know I would be homesick if I was too far away. As the youngest of 3 sons and the last one at home, my parents depend on me to help around the house and with some communication or translation as needed. My parents are Egyptian and I have always been there when they needed me. Also, George and Androu (2 older brothers) graduated from University of South Carolina – Columbia so I knew my parents would approve and support the decision of mine, just to gradually see me end up like my brothers as George is now a pharmacist, and Androu a computer engineer in California, both seemed to make it out
I often wonder how I ended up in this little town in the mountains. I came from a relatively large city in Indiana, but knew that I had to escape the Midwest’s conservative grasp. I never really intended to end up in Flagstaff. For as long as I can remember, I had wanted to go to the University of Arizona and live in Tucson. I obviously didn’t end up in Tucson.
Halfway through my sophomore year, my mom ran into some financial troubles. We had no choice, but to move away from my high school, and move in with my grandparents. After we moved, she didn’t have a job for over a year. I really didn’t want to switch schools. I was comfortable at my school and with my friends. My mother was willing to let me continue going there, even after we moved. I drove 30 minutes, everyday so I could go to school. It wasn’t easy, but it’s been worth it. I had to get up even earlier, I
We started our travels down in Columbus Ohio. The week leading up to the big move we spent at Deer Creek State park, for a family reunion, where my dad and step mom, had the chance to see everyone again, before the journey began. Over all we had taken nine days to get to our destination. First stop, Saint Louis, Missouri, we stopped to see the Gateway Arch. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, so of course I was pretty amazed. The first few days were our longest driving days, but sense we broke up the days, our longest day was eight hours. The second day was the worst, Oklahoma is so boring to drive through, and nothing but flat crop farms, and wind turbines everywhere you look. We drove till we got about seventy five miles from the boarder of New Mexico, And Oklahoma. We got up early and began a shorter dive to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we went to Petroglyph National Monument, yeah it was interesting, but after you see a few hundred, they all start to look the same. The next morning we took a beautiful hike and took many pictures to capture the moment. Other than getting there, my favorite part of the trip, was Arizona, where we stayed four days in Flagstaff, one day in Holbrook, and one day in Phoenix. I wouldn’t mind if I lived in Arizona, it’s a very beautiful state. My family and I stopped by the Petrified Forest National Park, and I
In “Calling Home”, by Jean Brandt and “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard, both girls are confronted with their sense of conscience and of right and wrong. In the process, both girls experience memorable lessons as a consequence of the decisions they make. In “Calling Home”, thirteen year old Jean realizes that her actions not only affect her but more importantly, her loved ones, when she is caught shoplifting and arrested during a Christmas shopping trip with her siblings and grandmother. In “An American Childhood”, seven year old Annie realizes that adults and their feelings are valid and that they can be just as vulnerable and full of tenacity as a child after she and her friend find themselves being chased by a man who is none too amused at being a target of their snowball throwing antics. In both stories, Annie and Jean are smug in their sense of power and control. Both girls exhibit a general lack of respect for authority by justifying their actions and displaying a false sense of entitlement to pursue and attain whatever they wish, as if ordinary rules do not apply to them.
When I was nine years old, my parents, two siblings, and uncle decided that it was time for us to move from Missouri up to chilly Massachusetts. Both my uncle and father were construction workers. There were so many projects in Massachusetts, it was sensible for us to move. Financially, this was also the solution to our money problems. All around we were all very excited for this move, all except for myself. About halfway to Massachusetts, I had a gut feeling that this was a bad decision. Upon arrival, I felt like a fish out of water and, I was. Everything was so different compared to how Missouri was.
In Philadelphia there are many problems, like the amount of shooting or the way our sports fans act. That is not the issue at hand; the issue is homeless individuals around Philadelphia. The major parts of the city that house these individuals are very urban parts, which is basically the whole city. Being homeless is not only a problem for the human that is homeless; it takes a toll on people that happen to see it every day. Encountering a homeless person may make a lot go through your head, if you happen to care. You might think that “Wow, I am glad I do not have to live that way” or maybe you are thinking “He has to be faking” or maybe you just do not surrender them your attention. Living in Philadelphia for almost most whole life I have seen a good amount of homeless citizens, they bring this depressing aura when they are around. All I can think about is “Maybe they use to be someone.”
The Middle of Somewhere stresses the important facts of racism and equal rights among human beings. This interesting and compelling story is about an African family who fought the government for what they believed was right. In the times of segregation, the white people pushed around the blacks. It was the few blacks that chose to stand up for themselves and fight back for what they believed in. “The middle of somewhere”. If spoken aloud, it makes you think. This must be a place where you call home. Somewhere where you feel safe and where everything around you is comfortable.
“To a Daughter Leaving Home” is a short poem written in by Linda Pastan, an American poet best known for her small poems pertaining to the subjects such as family life, home life, and parenthood, and her own experiences in these subjects. “To a Daughter Leaving Home” was written by Pastan in 1988. The poem itself is about a parent reflecting upon a fond memory of an event in their daughter’s life, just as their daughter is leaving home; this poem contains some literary techniques such as an extended metaphor, symbolism, a simile, onomatopoeia, and repetition. The tone of this poem is very sentimental and bittersweet as it displays how the parent, who is the speaker, has watched their daughter grow up and has now realized that they will have to let their daughter go out into the world on her own.
I moved to the house I now live in when I was three years old. I was so excited to move as this meant I was going to live closer to my grandpa. What I did not realize was what wonderful neighbors my family would have. Although the neighbors’ kids were all a lot older than my brother and me, they were always very nice and would play lots of different games with us. I thought this was so cool considering that they were all boys. The oldest boy, Jayson, had cerebral palsy. Jayson was 18 years old. He walked a little funny and talked a little funny, but he was so friendly.
It was very hard moving to a new town in the summer of 1996. This event meant having to attend a new middle school and re-establish myself in a new environment. Even though I had moved a couple times before, that did not make this time any easier. I still had to make new friends and ground myself all over again. Yet I had no idea the positive impact this move would have on me.
One of the wisest things that I have ever done for myself is to move away from home. After high school graduation, I had decided to take a year off and stay home because at that time in my life I truly felt that I was not fit for university and that I needed time to work on myself. What I did end up finding is that a lot of the people that stayed behind, including myself, began to get into extremely destructive habits. As a lot of us did not have any concrete goals in our lives, we found that a sense of freedom became too much for us to handle. This resulted in many of us finding ourselves to push our limits with drugs and alcohol, as we were surrounded with freedom and were too immature to know how to handle it. I started to realize that the
Sela Ward, the author of Homesick believes her family shows her everyday what a home truly is. Keeping in touch with her Southern roots is a chronic part of her life. This paper will share with you ideas about the book Homesick in addition to how it relates to my life and English 121.
Leaving. Some could define leaving as physically going from one point to another, others mentally traveling to a corner in their head that no one can see. Leaving from here drives the traveler right back to where they started. Be it emotional, physical, or family problems, we all "leave" in many different levels and stages in our lives. Some run to get away from troubles, then find the troubles in another form further up the road. Others travel yonder with the mindset of hope, and a will to succeed. These people have stared adversity down in the eye and burned the retinas clean out. Not afraid to put in some extra effort with the intention of pure success, these people have a stance in life that others could only have the sweetest dreams that conjure up in their heads to think about. These are the ones who can actually "leave." The ones who can put troubles behind, and use defeats simply as a motive to strive harder in the right direction. I plan to "leave" one day, in the idea of moving for change and further inspiration for music and life. But, will this journey prove to be all that is seems to be? I have always looked at my leaving as my form of escape from the life around my house, which isn't bad, don't get me wrong. The escape I seek is an adventure that many get to take, but do not realize that they are on it until it has passed the by.