When I was younger, I had a pretty great life. I had a lot of friends and a good house I was used to living in. All because my mom had a successful restaurant that she built from the ground up a few years ago.

One day, we were watching the news, and it reported that two hurricanes were heading directly towards us. Hurricanes were not uncommon, but these two looked dangerous. We didn't know what to do. We tried hard to prepare for these huge hurricanes. We did this by blocking the windows and ensuring that windows, doors, and things along the wall were secure. We knew there was not much we could do. Days went by, and we kept hoping it wouldn´t be too bad. We closed the restaurant and waited…and waited. After the hurricane arrived, everything was unrecognizable, trees were stripped bare, buildings were destroyed, and our restaurant was unrecognizable. You could barely tell where our restaurant was.

The island was without power and all utilities, like water and phone service, for many months. There was a gas shortage, and it had to be rationed for people's cars and generators. Being a remote island, it was hard to get supplies. Some nights, my mom would take us, and we had to sleep in our car to keep the mosquitoes away.

We tried to rebuild, but it was never the same. One day, my mom, who was the only one raising us at the time, told my brother and me that we had to move closer to our family, all the way across the country, because we needed help and support. I was very sad, I loved my life on the island. I had a lot of friends, and I liked my school. I was 7 years old, and I couldn´t understand why we had to leave my home. I was very sad.

We packed up and moved. My mom had to get a new job working at a coffee shop. I had to make all new friends at a new school, and it was super hard because I was a shy kid. For a couple of years, our family helped us a lot. In the place we moved to, a lot of people knew my family because my mom grew up there and went to school there, so we met a lot of people. a

My mom ended up buying the coffee shop, and it is pretty busy. Looking back at it, I realized that life can change drastically, and things happen that we have no control over. Sometimes you just have to adapt and figure out how to live around the weather.

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