What's it like to move so far away from home and family? People asked me that a lot when I first moved from Kansas to Michigan. My typical response was to tell them it was hard but I am fitting in quite nicely here at my new school, but it's a strange and difficult question to answer. But when I responded I wasn't lying either, I made plenty of friends within my first week here. But that's just part of the truth. It didn't quite feel like home here, and it still doesn't to this day. I think it never really feels right when you were raised for more than half your life so far in one place, and then you are dropped in another totally different place never to see your friends again. Although I could tell the person asking plenty of my sorrows of moving to this cold new place, it wasn't all bad. I could go on about all the wonderful things of where I now lived. So really this question could go either way and I have never yet decided whether it was best I moved here.
     The really tough part for me about moving to Michigan was leaving all the people I loved back in Kansas. My mom ands my dads family both live in southeast Kansas, so I am leaving a lot of people behind. Not only my family but my friends that I grew up with. We had some great times despite our small class. With a total of twenty one kids in my grade, ten were boys and me and five others were best friends. Although it may sound kind of depressing that I had such few options, we all got along greatly. It also helped that we all lived within a few miles of one another. To me those friendships will last forever, and leaving might have been the most I had given up by moving up here to Michigan. When I visit in the summer or at christmas, those are my only chances to spend time with most of my family, and have fun with my old friends.
     Although I had a lot to lose by moving up here, I have a lot now that I love. You may think a boy raised down in Kansas would hate the snow, but winter is my favorite time of year. If I had never moved up here I wouldn't have the passion for snowboarding I do now, or even had the chance to try it. I also wouldn't have been able to see my step-dad’s side of the family as much as I do now. My step-dad’s dad has a huge family reunion each year where I get to meet their family from all over Michigan and we have an awesome time swimming, playing volleyball, and talking. School here was also totally different too. My class size more than doubled when I moved here. Luckily I made quite a few friends here within my first week. Then when middle school came it went up to one hundred. And that was considered slightly below average size grade. The good thing about it was that I had my picking and choosing of friends. And if you asked me right now to name all my friends it would be quite a margin of the students in our grade. Plus I consider everyone my friend until I'm given a reason for them not to be my friend. I love this about where I live now and most everything else about Michigan!
     I can tell it may be hard to figure out what exactly I overcame in this essay. What I overcame was moving from Kansas to Michigan. The thing is, is that it I easily overcame it. I made friends so quickly that it was hard for me to be sad about leaving behind my old friends. I was also too young and unthoughtful that I didn't miss my family back in Kansas. The only thing hard about the move is that now when I think about moving I think of everything I missed out on. I also think about what my life could've been like if I had stayed. I could have continued to learn about being a farmer from my grandpa before he died last year and stayed in the FFA. I could be playing my favorite sport football, beside my best friends. I could be making mashed potatoes with my grandma and be playing outside on the tractors at their house. I could take over my grandpa’s farm and live with my grandma. All these things and more I miss doing back in Kansas. Some I haven't even done yet or might never do, but I miss the thought of doing them. Lots of those thoughts went away or were unlikely to ever happen after I moved. That's what I really am still trying to overcome now from my move up here to Michigan.
     “Well I miss my friends and family but I love it up here in Michigan and am glad to live here” would be my response summed up from this essay if you were to ask me. That statement is very true and I am very glad to live up here where I can swim and boat and get sunburnt and a few months later sled and snowboard and get frostbite. It's amazing up here and I know my friends would love it up here. Sadly it is always us going to Kansas and not vice versa. We did have my grandma and my aunt Emily come up last summer. We even had my sisters seventh grade teacher and my mom’s close friend come up to visit named Mrs. Guard, but she let us call her Marsha. If I could solve the problem of being torn between missing things that I could've had in Kansas and loving up here in Michigan I would have the one thousand people of Elk Rapids move to Kewadin. There is plenty of room and that would abolish my sadness of my family and friends in Kansas and I would get to stay in beautiful Michigan. Sadly I can't do that and I have to live with what I got, which isn't too bad.