Change always comes bearing gifts by David Borom

Change always comes bearing gifts

For me, life is a journey that’s all about decisions and changes. Some people were born with their lives planned for them, some just followed their friend’s footsteps, some lived in the same place their whole life… their lives are nothing like mine. Since I can remember, there have always been decisions made about my life, first by my parents, then by myself. I am a firm believer in change, but it isn’t always good. Over the years change and I have grown on each other.
I was born complete, one mother, one father, one sister, a family of four is what we were. We were family of four living in a single family home on the Southside of Chicago. Birthdays were joyful, holidays were blissful. It was a time when I though that everything was perfect and nothing could go wrong. I was living in a dream, but I would soon get a wake up call.
When I was ten, my parents got divorced; change number one. A week before the divorce was announced to my sister and I, my mother moved out of the house, and purchased a home of her own. At the time, I didn’t really know what was going on, but now I could see that something was about to happen. My mother came over to my father’s home where I was staying. She sat my sister and I down on the sofa and broke the news to us.
It didn’t hit me that my perfect family was breaking up until my mother came, packed our clothes, and moved us in with her; change number two. I was now living with my mother in a condo in a strange community. When we first moved away from my father, I saw him almost everyday, but as the weeks went on, and they turned into months, I began to see him less and less. A few months after the final divorce, my father purchased a home in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. My mother then decided that she could not afford my private school education alone, I am transferring to public school; change number 3.
So far, my parents got divorced, I moved away from my father, and I got transferred to a different school. My life was nowhere near perfect; I knew that I had awaken from whatever dream I was having. I still often pinched myself hoping that I would all be a nightmare and my life would go back to the way I liked it. I believed in change, well at least I thought I did. Change in my life was changing shoes, cars, or just the carpet on my floor. I would have never imagined moving out of my childhood home, changing family size, or schools. In my sheltered world, that just didn’t happen. I had become like those kids that I felt sorry for, but I refused to feel sorry for myself.
Of course, my parents getting divorced, moving away from my father and changing schools weren’t good. Sometimes I would feel lost or discombobulated, thinking that I would end up somewhere else and have to start over again. But the ups overweighed the downs. I have made friends in many different places. I’ve met people all around the country. These are opportunities that I could not have encountered if I had stayed in my little world. I wouldn’t re-live my life in any other way; all these changes have made me who I am today. I believe in change. I believe that it is absolutely necessary for future survival.