This story was about the hardest thing that has happened in my life. Dealing with losing friends that I had known for half of my life was hard. This event changed my perspective on big events that could alter a life, good or bad. When things happen, people focus on the bad side. When unexpected events happen, it can scare you because you never know where you might end up.

This all begins the day after Christmas in 2019. The day just felt like any other day, and we were going shopping at a nearby mall. When we got to the last store, my mom started getting Facebook notifications that my dad had gone live. When she joined, all I could hear was my dad screaming and crying on the phone, talking about how he just lost his job. At the moment, I didn’t really know what this meant for me and my brother. Two years prior to this we were living with our mom for a year and a half because he was retiring from active duty and going to work as a civilian. I thought that we were going to have to go back to live with her until he could get everything straightened out.

When we got home, all I saw was my dad crying and screaming at his phone, like he was earlier. I had never seen my dad in this state before, so it was a weird feeling for me. All I could do at the moment was worry. I wasn't worried about what was going to happen when we got back to Okinawa. I didn’t know that we were going to get kicked off the island just because my dad didn’t work for the military anymore. I thought you would only get kicked off if you got in trouble. I just thought we would live with our mom for a while, then come back to a new house.

When we got back to Okinawa, my dad told us that we were going to have to move, but he didn’t know how soon. After hearing that, I tried to make as many memories as I could with all the time that I had left with my friends. I tried to hang out with them every day because I knew that I may never see any of them again. In February, we learned we were going to be kicked out of school, and, at that point, reality set in. We were actually going to be leaving the place where I had made the most memories and friends, the place I enjoyed. We had to move into a hotel until our house was cleared out and we got our plane tickets. It was the hardest time for us because we were leaving everything we knew and the place we grew up behind. But moving to Washington was also good; it was the place where my entire family lived, and we would be able to see my little brother who left us when I was six. Being able to hang out with my family more often was the only thing I was looking forward to.

When I started going to my new school, I knew one kid, and he and I shared a sister so I would see him every time we visited Washington. He introduced me to all his friends, and since then I have made many fun memories with them and have enjoyed my time here.

My meaning for this story is to not always think bad things are going to happen and to be able to look at the brighter sides of things. The reason is that everything can get better, no matter what happens or how bad.

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