From Carolina Sunshine to German Blizzard: A Military Kid's Journey

My most life changing experience was when I moved from the sunny skies of North Carolina to The Blizzard, more formally known as Germany in the middle of my second grade year. My Step-Dad was active duty in the military. Of course, he had to drag us with him. He flew out to Germany first so for about three weeks it was just Mom and I. Just about every day Mom would say “Two more weeks till Germany, Tarix”, “One more week till Germany, Tarix” (Rich), which I never took to heart. I was too caught up in deciding what my Barbie was going to wear that day and riding my new tricycle to have time to process her words. Ignorance was bliss until the movers came to our house and packed up all my memories into big brown boxes. The night before

I made brand new friends, including my current best friend that I met in 6th grade. She’s currently studying at Texas Lutheran because we always planned on going to universities near each other in Texas. I eventually fell in love with the culture of Germany once we moved from that orange building to off post, where you’re submerged head first into their dialogue and their traditions because you are living with them. I even made friends in that German neighborhood. Our families became close and even now we view them as a part of our family as

I took this class for an elective class my freshman year to junior year. --My high school in Purvis, Mississippi didn’t have it--. Everyone I knew was in the class, therefore it was a must have class. There were drills, promotion boards, PT, and boot camps where we would rappel off towers and do other crazy things. My classmates felt like family after a very short time. I kept the class when my family and I moved from Germany to Texas. My Chief in Texas was just the sweetest old man. He could make you feel at home even if it wasn’t his home. His motivation, advice and care to see me succeed contributed to my grades in high school and my decision to join the military.
I stayed in Texas for two years until one day I came home from school to find my mom packing up all of our belongings into our big red Toyota truck. She said “Pack up all your stuff, we’re leaving to stay with Jennifer and Jordan”--Mom’s best friend and my childhood friend-- “so we’re driving to Mississippi”. I stared at her for about two minutes as she hustled to pack her clothes into her suitcases but, I went to my room, went through my closet and started packing too. We finished the whole house in a matter of hours, we picked up my little brother from daycare and said goodbye to