Instability Robs You of Things

Daily writing prompt

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

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I was born and have lived in the USA all of my life. But still, I had an unstable life.

When I was 13, I had lived in 14 different addresses. Then, I became homeless for about 3 months as my birth mother shifted my siblings and I to different relatives and friends before my sister and I were able to get help from Social Services.

I had lived at 32 addresses by the time I was 18. I have lived in about four different states: NY, IL, WI, NM and am now in Illinois by the Wisconsin border. I have now lived in 48 addresses. I am happy to say that when I was raising my kids, we only lived in 2 addresses that they remember. That was important to me, to give them stability that I never had.

So, there are no items that I could get attached to before I had to let them go. But, I also had so many good fresh starts! No one remembers embarrassing things from your earlier years because you’re always the new kid in the class, neighborhood, or town. You get to learn what’s fun from those who tested it all, OR you can show them a new way of fun that used to be boring for you in the last town.

There’s always two parts to any experience, that balances things around.

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