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I was born on July 12, 1973 at the Air Force Academy Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am the youngest of three. I had an older brother, and still have an older sister. I grew up in a military family. My dad was in the Air Force. With my dad in the military, my family moved from base to base about every 4 years. We have lived in Colorado, Ohio, Italy, Japan and then Arizona.
We lived in Colorado from 73' to 77'. Then my dad was stationed at Rickenbacker Air Force Base, in Ohio. We lived there until they closed it in 79'. From Ohio my dad was stationed at Aviano Air Base, in Aviano, Italy. We lived there from 79' to 83'. From there we moved to Misawa Air Base, in Misawa, Japan. We lived there from 83' to 87". Then we moved to Davis Monthan Air Force Base, in Tucson, Arizona.
I have lived in Tucson for around 17 years now. This is the longest I have lived anywhere. Being apart of a military family has its advantages, but to me it has more disadvntages. The only advantage I can see is that my family got to see different cultures when we lived overseas. The biggest disadvantage was leaving the USA, and then coming back here and trying to fit in. Living overseas , in my opinion, was an easier place to live. You didn't turn your TV on and see another murder or hear about gangs. Don't get me wrong, Italy has muders, drugs and Japan has murders and drugs, but you didn't hear about it all the time like you do here in the U.S.
Growing up in a military family is not an easy thing. Moving from base to base every 4 years, not being able to have close friendships and changing schools every four years is hard. My family became my best friends. Cause when you move you don't know anybody, and the only people you have to play with or hang out with is your family. My brother, sister and I went to like 6 different schools.
The only thing I like about being in a military family is living in different places. My favorite country was Italy. Living in Italy was the greatest. I learned about the Italian culture first hand. The language was easy to learn, even though I have forgotten most of it now.
When my family got to Arizona, I finally had the chance to make true friends. Something that I couldn't do when I had to pack up and move after 4 years. I finally knew what it was like to have true friends, besides my family. It wasn't until my dad decided to retire here in Tucson that I finally found that out though. Two years after we got here to Tucson, my parents bought a house off base and I went to the last school I would ever go to, Santa Rita High School.
I met my best friend Danielle there. I remember the day we met. She and I had Sophomore English together. She walked into class and slapped me in the back of the head with her folder. I turned around to look at her and asked "Why did you do that???" She said "Cause you looked like you needed it." or something like that. We became best friends after that and are still best friends to this day.
