4 Schools in 7th Grade
On being the “New Kid”
From August of ’69 to March of ’71 my family moved from Miami, Florida to Overland Park, Kansas to Woodbridge, Virginia to Washington, DC to Winter Park, Florida.
The next question is usually:
“Was your Dad in the military?”
Me: “No, he worked for the Federal Government.”
“What did he do?”
Me (if I’m in the right mood): “He was an assassin.”
“Really? Do you haven any stories you can tell?”
What comes next, again, depends on my mood and how playful I feel like being.
Sometimes I just make up stories and see how long I can make it go.
Most of the time I answer:
Me: “He worked for the Federal Housing Authority which was part of Housing and Urban Development.”
4 Schools in 7th Grade
I was a perfectly content 11 year old kid living in Miami. Our house backed up to several empty acres which became our very large playground.
The fish tanks in the our foyer were filled with snakes I’d caught. I spent my days catching small lizards to feed the snakes.
Then one day my Dad came home from work and told us he’d been transferred to the Kansas City, Kansas office.
All I knew about Kansas was Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. But after a plane trip as a family to house hunt, and my discovery that they did in fact have MatchBox and Hot Wheels cars in Kansas, I was OK.
I remember one particular morning on the long drive to Kansas. I was in the back of our station wagon in charge of the fish tanks full of my snakes when I realized one was missing.
A thorough search of the car convinced us that somewhere, about a hundred miles back, a Howard Johnson’s Motel maid was getting a big surprise.
Falling in Love with a New Place
I fell in love with Overland Park, Kansas. 3 story house with a basement, rolling hills, changes in seasons, and lots and lots of friends.
My first kiss took place with a girl named “Dylon” in the romantic side yard between our 2 houses.
Then in November of ’70 my Dad came home and told us he’d been transferred to Washington, DC, where he grew up.
I was devastated. Did not want to leave. Walked through every single room in our 3 story house the night we left.
Miserable in Virginia
I was miserable in Virginia. The only I think kept me sane was we backed up to lots of woods, and in my imagination I turned our Pomeranian dog into “Big Red” from my favorite books, and explored the woods with my trusty BB Gun.
Closer to DC
The DC we moved to was not the DC my Dad grew up in. It was a 2 hour commute one way from our house to The Federal Building in DC.
So we moved to DC to be closer. We moved into an apartment that did not allow pets which meant I had to give up my trusty Pomeranian/Big Red.
Bawled my eyes out over that one.
3 Weeks Later
Only 3 weeks after we moved in, on the day I got into a big fight at the bus stop, my Dad came home and told us he’d been transferred to the Orlando office.
On our last day there, on the way to school my Dad and I changed a flat tire in a blizzard.
At least we were going back to Florida.
The New Kid, Again
We moved to Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando, 6 months before Disney opened. And lived there for almost 10 years until I moved to Florida State to go to Grad School.
So there I was, the New Kid for the 3rd time in 4 months.
If you’ve ever been the New Kid, you know that it comes with lots of fun things, like being picked on.
In another story, I’ll tell you about the day I reached my breaking point and took out 2 bullies at one time.
For now, I want to mention something really cool that came out of all this.
Being the New Kid 3 times in 4 months teaches you to make friends and connections with people very fast.
Back then it was a survival skill.
Then it became a skill that has served me well for my entire life. I’m basically an introvert (no, really) and being able to quickly connect with new people and make friends fast helps me to thrive in an extroverted world.
And now please allow me to introduce myself further:
