Moving to a new town had many influences on my life. Some of these influences are positive and some negative in my opinion. For other people, moving to a new town can be hard, but it my case, I had no troubles.

On July 19, 1997, I, Halen Robert B, was delivered in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota called Shakopee. I was born into a family of one mother and one father, no siblings. I lived in Shakopee for only a small portion of my life. I grew up in a small, comfortable, neighborhood near my small Catholic School. During these six years that I had lived in Shakopee, I made some great friends. One day I was hit with the news, “We are moving.” As a young kid I was scared to leave, and I didn’t know what to expect. We were leaving because my dad was set to move out to Oregon to continue his job he had, but he turned it down, because he knew it wasn’t the right job for him. We set off for his home town of Fort Dodge.

This wasn’t the first time I had been to Fort Dodge. I had visited this town many times, because my grandparents live there. I knew a few kids in my grandparent’s neighborhood, but I moved in across town from them. I also was attending a new school. The whole private, Catholic school wasn’t a surprise to me. In Shakopee I went to the same type of school.

The first day of school was quite nerve-racking. I remember I sat next to Matthew in Mrs. Hetherington’s second grade class. As I went on through grade school I never got in with a certain group of friends until fifth grade. In fifth grade, I finally maneuvered my way into a group of friends, the same group that I still hold today. Getting to know a certain group of people helps out making it through middle school and now even into high school.

Moving to a new town has had great impacts on my life. I have met a lot of great people and then some not so great. Having the opportunity to move into a good school and having a nice life here in Dodge is a great thing. Having great people around me in a small school community like this makes it easier to succeed.

All though, it’s great having a life down here, it is hard not to think about what would have been different if I wouldn’t have moved from Shakopee. Would things have changed in my life for the better or for the worse? Same with moving out to Oregon, my life could have been a lot worse than I have it now. It is really something crazy to think about how one time moving has such a great impact on your life.

Moving can impact your life greatly, whether it is for the good or for the bad. I am glad that me moving was a positive influence on my life.