"Your room looks so empty. It's so quiet around here now that your gone, I can't stand it", my Grandmother told me while we were talking on the phone. "I know. I miss it down there, but it'sgood to be back home", I replied. I had missed Sarasota, my grandparents, all my new friends,
and the beach. It was only five minutes from the house! As much as I missed all that, it didn't
make up for my feeling of being "home".
I moved down to Sarasota the second quarter of my Sophmore year in January. I had been
getting into trouble, making unwise decisions, making my relationship with my mom really tense.One day, after yet another arguement over the "choice" of my friends and my disobedience, she
suggested that I move down to Sarasota and live with my grandparents for the rest of the school
year. I agreed and was kind of happy to get away. I said goodbye to my friends, packed the
things in my room and headed down South. That was a decision that changed my life.
Living down in Sarasota was hard at first. Adjusting took longer than I thought. I enrolled at Riverview High School and making new friends wasn't easy. Between my not wanting to even
try to make new friends and my trying to hang on to the friends I left behind in Tallahassee, my
attitude was all wrong. I was angry at myself for the decisions I made while living in Tallahasseeand the consequences from the decisions that put me in my new "home" with my grandfather andgrandmother. Now that I look back on it, my mom had made a good decision for me. As the
year went on, I became involved in school by joining the track team, was making aquantances at
school, and meeting people in the youth group of my grandparents church. I eventually became
really close with some kids in that youth group. I realized as I was hanging out with those kids
that they were different than my friends in Tallahassee. They could have fun without ...