Surrounded by great friends, enveloped in beautiful scenery, and close to loved ones, my family and I were living a content and happy life in southern Oregon. We lived in a convenient location, with the perfect weather conditions, with little to no worries ever crossing our minds. My dad, Jason had a great job that supplied him with the money that he needed in order to provide for all of our many needs.

In our comfortable little house we sat together, unaware of the life- changing decision my dad was considering. As all the possible scenarios ran through his head, he felt a heavy burden on his shoulders. He quickly excused himself from the room and sat by the window watching the cars drive by. Meanwhile, in the other room, my mom was left to distract my siblings and I while we wondered why he suddenly left the room without an explanation. We were happy and carefree and unaware of the changes to come.

On the front porch swing my mom and dad discussed the possible options in secrecy. After much thought and prayer they came to the decision to pack up our little family and all of our belongings and move to Phoenix, Arizona. It was now time to tell us kids the news. My parents walked into the room where we were playing, building and creating and laughing together. As my dad cleared his throat he kindly asked for our attention. Looking down at the ground, anticipating the heartbreak his words would cause, he forced the words out of his mouth. Children, in about two months we will be moving to Arizona. As that settled in, tears started rolling down my face as I thought about not going to high school with my childhood friends. I couldn’t think of anything else to do but cry. As I stood up from the couch and started for the front door I could not hold the tears back any longer. I closed the front door behind me and sat outside on the now not so familiar front porch steps and cried. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. My little sister, Erin raced down the street to share the news with her best friend who lived only three houses down. My little brother, Dallin, too young to know what was happening continued to build and destroy then builds and destroy his tower of blocks.

The next month flew by as my family spent endless hours and days preparing for the move. The stress level was high and everyone became more and more uptight as the day of the move got closer. The process of going through everything and getting rid of unwanted items became a bother. Many lost objects became found and valuables were placed in safe places to protect them from any harm that could occur through the moving process. As my mom and I were going through old boxes, my mom came across old photos from her wedding day that she had put in a special wooden box and somehow misplaced over the years. As she flipped through the pictures she was reminded of the joy she felt on that special day and the promiseshe made to her husband that she would always stand by him in everything. Although the move was hard for her, she knew what she had to do.

Our last 30 days in Oregon quickly came to an end. The days were filled with many goodbyes to loved ones as well as memories made as our time with friends and family dwindled. As the day approached, many tears were shed. Our belongings were all out of our home and packed up in the moving truck and our family of five was crammed in our little car. We were all physically prepared to leave, as it was a burden we had been carrying for quite some time, but not emotionally ready just yet. As we pulled out of our drive way we waved goodbye to our friends and began our long journey to find a new place to call home. We progressively made our way to the scorching heat, the dusty, flat landscape, and the brown dirt of Phoenix, Arizona from the mountainous, forested, and beautiful state of Oregon. The journey consisted of many trials and hardships, but together we managed to make it to our final destination.

It was 304 miles to Reno Nevada, our first stop. The flat plains surrounded our car as we drove down several endless stretches of highway. In Reno we stopped to spend the night at one of our favorite places, Circus Circus. There we drowned our sorrows with midnight ice cream sundaes and camel races in the arcade. The next day we drove 518 miles to Salt Lake City Utah where our eager grandparents awaited our arrival and we anxiously sat in the back seat for the same reason. We spent the next couple of days playing with my dads’ old childhood toys and visiting with extended family.

A few days passed and it came time for us to drive another 291 miles, with an unexpected delay, to Hurricane Utah. With hours and miles yet to travel our progress was halted by a flat tire near the remote town of Nephi. My dad immediately jumped out of the car to begin the process of fixing the problem. My mom was sitting in the front seat, her eyes staring blankly at the road ahead with a look of longing on her face, a longing to find a place to call home and a place where her children could continue to grow up. I was in the back seat with my headphones in, not paying much attention to what was going on outside of the car. Erin sat next to me as she read her fifth book of the trip, she didn’t mind the delay too much. Dallin sat in his car seat dozing in and out of restless sleep not even acknowledging the fact that the car had stopped moving. After thirty minutes of toiling in the hot sun, my dad finished the job and we continued on our drive.

After we left Nephi there were only 207 miles to Hurricane. With the towering Wasatch Mountains behind us, the landscape evolved to grassy fields, distant hills and wispy clouds. Then sagebrush and dirt replaced the beautiful scenery as we neared the deserts of southern Utah. When we arrived, we were welcomed with open arms by our grandparents, aunt and cousin. There we played with our cousin Anna and spent time at the city pool. After our fun days were spent there it was time to tackle the final stretch. Only 393 miles left to Phoenix where we
would be forced to call home. Many emotions were filling our brains, as we got closer. My mom was feeling nervous as the reality of the move set in. My dad on the other hand was excited for the new adventure and the new job. Us kids were feeling anxious as we began to see the fear settle on our mothers face. As we drove, we passed a green sign on the side of the freeway that confirmed there to be only five short miles to Phoenix. As we pulled into our new driveway we suddenly realized that we were given an opportunity to have a new start. Although we were all still upset about leaving Oregon, we were excited to meet new people and have new opportunities that only Arizona could offer. As we unpacked our car and the moving truck we became anxious to discover what tomorrow would bring.