An awesome Essay....

Kelsey wrote this for a school assignment and I thought she did a great job. It's interesting to see the recent events of our lives through her eyes.


Living in Keller, Texas for the majority of my childhood, growing up with many of the same friends and knowing where “that restaurant” was and “this shopping mall” was seemed perfect and only expected in my every day routine life. The “routine” factor of my life, however, quickly changed when I was told I was going to live on the island of Guam for my first two years of high school. The day my mom called me, explaining how she had received a job at one of the elementary schools on the Guam air force base, I didn’t know if I could take her seriously. Soon after, I began to really believe that my life would fall apart. I had not traveled outside the country, besides going on mission or vacation trips to Mexico occasionally, so I was secretly looking forward to the travel, yet determined to be negative by repeatedly whining about leaving my friends and all I’d known.

Arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the way to our final destination in Guam, I soon began to think everything might turn out “okay”. Looking around me at the cerulean colored ocean and swaying palm trees, and finally landing on Guam, enjoying luxury after luxury in what I believed to be paradise, I figured I could handle anything about that life. The scenery and tropical climate was nice and definitely adjustable; I only feared going to school. I wasn’t used to making new friends because all I’d ever known were the friends I’d had since elementary and intermediate school. I decided I would get through those two years focusing on school, enjoying the beach every now and then, and not worrying about friends so I could return to Keller and everything would be the same. I grew stronger in my faith, turning to God when I wished for a friend or thanking Him for what I saw.

However, even on the brinks of my first school year on Guam, I realized I wouldn’t have to suffer completely, ignoring a social life as I had planned to do, as I easily made friends with those around me, being accepted quickly by kids who were used to moving around and starting over. It was still difficult to think about home in Keller or my family in Texas and not break down emotionally. Yet, that first year of high school, as different as it was, really began to take effect on the way I viewed the world I knew so little about. I met kids my age who had traveled from all over the world and I slowly began to enjoy my life little by little.

My freshman year, I received the opportunity to travel to Okinawa, Japan for a school yearbook trip. On family vacations, I got to travel to different places such as Queensland, Australia, Bangkok, Thailand and Tokyo, Japan. The whole way, I was tasting new foods and learning about different cultures, such as religion and languages. I experienced the Japanese culture heavily as I took Japanese language both years, hearing stories form my teacher and learning with my classmates. Even at home, I experienced living on an air force base and making friends with people whose dads were in the military.

Although I seemed desperate not to leave my comfort zone and enter a foreign land, I now see the world with new eyes. I have many more places I plan to visit but I’ve at least seen a sliver of the huge world we live in. I don’t know everything that’s out there and I do know that there are kids my age who have experienced more than me, but I feel blessed to have witnessed military life, islanders’ cultures, and how it feels to have frizzy hair constantly. Even though it seemed as if I wanted nothing to do with these options, that two year experience was a new chapter in my life and has forever affected my beliefs and imagination. At times, I do wonder if life would be easier, would I have just stayed in one spot and not become attached to two different places in the world, but I do know that for anything, I wouldn’t have traded those two years, no matter the pain and vulnerability I sometimes find myself with. The situation kids my age sometimes come across when they get to a crossroads may seem incredibly hard and strenuous, but they just might end up benefitting from a life-changing experience.