Student Publishing Program ::

Omar Bennouna

Change

After having lived in one place for so long, one gets used to it and gets to know people and make friends. It really becomes a “home,” and for me that’s a place where I can be comfortable with everything and everyone. Finding that place has been hard due to my family constantly moving. It’s hard to move, because once we do it, it takes a while to get used to that place and become part of it. I find it difficult because I feel like I have to always start everything over. I have to try to fit in with all of the kids and make friends as well. As easy as that might sound, it is actually much harder for any teenager.

Not too long ago my dad announced to us that we had to move once again. This time we have to go back to Ann Arbor, Michigan. We have lived there before for two straight years before coming to Lexington, and now we have to move right back where we were. As a family we have been moving repeatedly. The first time we moved was from Morocco, where I was born and lived in for nine years, to Ann Arbor, a place which I knew nothing about. Then after a short two years, we moved here, to Lexington. The reason being simply my dad’s job; every now and then his job requires him to live in a different area, therefore causing us to move.

When my dad told me this news, I was really bummed out and annoyed with him. I have had to move so many times because of him that it basically got old and I was definitely not looking forward to it. After living here for four years, I certainly did not want to leave. Here in Lexington I got to make a lot of friends, and I felt like this place was really becoming my “home.” I started to think about what it was going to be like once we moved. Everything was surely going to change for the better or for the worst. The thought of leaving my friends was the worst of all my thoughts. I mean, knowing that I was just going to leave behind all these great people that I have gotten to know and hang out with was what really depressed me. Besides leaving my friends, leaving LHS will be just as hard with having to change schools. I have had so many teachers that I greatly admire and that I don’t want to leave. Just the overall environment of the school will be hard to replace.

Besides having to leave this town, the other difficult part is that once we make the move it will be even harder to get used to it: to make friends, to fit in and to feel comfortable within the environment. To do all these things certainly takes time and effort, and since it will be my junior year, I won’t even get to know anyone to the fullest. To go through all of that and then have to go off to college almost makes it not worth the effort put in, but that’s a foolish thought. If I didn’t get to know anyone I would have a miserable rest of high school, and that’s the last thing I want.

For now, I just try not to think about all of this. If I did, it would only depress me more and make me sad. So I rather live my life as if nothing was going to happen, to enjoy it and not be stressed. If I do get to thinking about it, I always try to think about the advantages of moving. Things like getting a fresh new start on life, getting the chance to change anything about myself that I don’t like. Those types of things get my hopes up and it helps almost all the time; the rest of the time I just try to focus on what’s going on now.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2009 EDITION]