Growing up in Florida, I had always been a huge goofball, bouncing off the walls, running around, making people laugh and doing stupid stuff was my thing. I loved my friends and will always cherish the amazing moments that we had together. During my 6-7th grade years in middle school, my father told me that we were moving to Pennsylvania. I was devastated! Knowing that my whole world was crashing down upon me and that I would probably never see my friends again was heartbreaking, but, because my father said so, I had to do as I was told. I moved to a town where everyone was always so serious and all anyone cared about was who was selling what and who did what with who.

As a 7th grader, this was pretty intense for me; However, I still tried to stay true to my inner goofball and try and make people laugh and play along and just be as silly as I was. I learned at an alarming rate how wrong it was in the culture this town had created to act that way. Up until about 8th grade, I was bullied and ridiculed for everything that I did, but I still believed that you should be nice to everyone. One day, I finally snapped on someone who was making fun of my brother who had some drug issues. So from about 8th to the end of 9th grade, I was mean and vile to anyone who tried to talk to me, and the bullying just got worse because of it. So, over the summer my sister had requested custody of me to move to (you guessed it!) Alaska.

I couldn't believe it. I was going to move to The Last Frontier. I was ecstatic! Going up there and seeing those mountains, and the sunshine all day, and everyone being so relaxed and happy; I knew that this was going to be good. I lived on an Air Force base in Anchorage, and went to Bartlett High School for the majority of my time there. I met so many amazing people there, friends that I will keep for a lifetime (shout out to you Casiah!) and learned things that I never thought I would, especially when I was living with my parents. Living with my sister was... Different. We would bicker about normal things obviously, but we also fought about a lot of things teenagers and parents fight about.(And if you're reading this, I'm really sorry I lost your bookmark)

I thought it was going to be different and hard to explain to some people as to why I didn't live with my parents but, surprisingly enough, everyone was super understanding and caring about every living thing, even if they didn't like that person. I knew that I was going to love this place, and everyone in it. After my sister had told me that she was moving to Texas, I had decided it was time for me to branch out on my own and experience what it's like to be an adult. (I don't recommend it, I would rather be a cat.) I will probably never be as stressed and stress free, ever as I was in the year that I was on my own. In January, my grandfather had become very ill, and my parents deemed it best for me to come down and say my goodbyes, which I did, and he will always be in my heart.

However the case may be Alaska had taught me to always fight for who you are, even if you have 1,000 people fighting you back, Alaska taught me that you should NEVER drink liquor before beer and that 99 bananas will probably kill you if you don't watch yourself, it taught me that sunsets are best at 2:00 in the morning, and at 2:00 in the afternoon, it taught me that confidence is learned, you don't just have it bestowed upon you and that you will always want to come back, no matter how poorly or how amazing it treated you, because hey, it's Alaska. Who wouldn't want to see the most beautiful place on earth?