This I Believe

I grew up in Thousand Oaks, California, and later moved to beautiful Boise, Idaho, during my early preteen years. Moving from California, a place I thought was perfect for me, to Idaho, came some difficulties. I had a lot to lose with this move and definitely a lot to give up. Starting from my father, to my friends, and to the sports and activities that got me to where I am now.

When I was, I think eight; I remember standing at the alter playing my part in the wedding as the best man, with my tuxedo on, the rose hanging off my chest and glancing to the right of me seeing the man soon to be my step-dad, Jeff. For my mom marrying someone else, my real dad was taken out of my life, and it felt like he was trying to be replaced. It was hard because seeing him wasn’t really an option for me, I mean once in a while he would come around to visit and maybe bring a gift or two, but that wasn’t good enough for me knowing he only lived two hours away. It was quite disappointing, but going from once a month to NEVER… That’s hard for a kid my age, and it’s something that you just can’t get around. So it was really hard for me to have to say goodbye even though we never really had that father-son bond. But on top of leaving him, I had plenty more worry about.

The school I was attending before I heard the horrible news of us leaving was Las Colinas. I could remember everybody’s names in my class, and could see there faces still today. From the playing kickball together, to doing class projects and schoolwork, they were my friends, people I could go to when I just needed to get away and kids that everyone looked forward to seeing. With that said, there was NO more seeing. With those two things running across my mind, I had one last thing that bugged me… soccer!

Soccer is the sport I grew up playing. From the age of six, I remember sprinting around shooting the ball in the goal, and seeing the amazement on my parents face from the “swish” sound of the ball hitting the back of the net when I scored. It was one of the greatest moments I remember having during my soccer season, and thinking I was going to leave that behind and practically start over was really tough. My last season before having to depart all this, I remembered getting an invite to play in the All-Star game. I couldn’t help but to be excited, it was a terrific feeling knowing I was that good to go play with them, but that NEVER got to happen. We had to be out of our house three weeks before the game. I was devastated!

I didn’t want to go, I’d do anything to stay but that wasn’t an option for me, being only twelve years old and trying to get the final say in the house, practically impossible. Impossible; what a perfect word to be used to describe how I thought this move would be, but you’d never guess what happened… It wasn’t so bad. I was making friends left and right, school was great and my sports picked up right where they left off. It was still hard not seeing my dad ever, but we actually talked more that I was gone. This move going from me thinking it would be impossible, led to being one of the best decisions made.

From that happening it’s made me realize everything is feasible. It has proven that everything happens for a specific purpose and ends up working out well in the closing stages. This move really put into perspective how great things work out, and it now “makes me believe…” that anything is possible and all things happen for a reason.