Change is something in my life that I never asked for, but alas, in the end, it always wedges its way into my life. The distorted sculpted figure takes different forms in different situations, creating a false facade. Change is my leader in life as much as I look at it with scorn at times. It’s like that game of tag in elementary you can’t escape; it’s never-ending. It can eat away at me at night–it has that power–it has that control over me that it shouldn’t.

As a child, change was an invisible stepping stone to me; it was a stranger. When I had a young mind, change couldn’t seem to penetrate it; it couldn’t seem to get through. Imagination and innocence blocks it as if it’s a hurricane. Eventually, it was a hurricane I could see coming, and now I can’t hide from. Once I grew older, my brain accepted no ceasing change; there is no ceasing time.

I grew with change, I mature with change, and it evolves with me.

The roadblocks create a resentment inside me, resentment in change because of my realization that change is a destroyer and rebuilder. The power it holds over me is more than I can hold over myself. I no longer have that innocence and imagination as a guard. Innocence and imagination slowly have drifted away from me over the years; it ceased its guard.

Times, memories, and moments in my life where change has shown its face and taken off its mask have been toxic and refreshing.

June 21st, 2004, I was adopted.
July 1st, 2004, I was brought from Qinzhou, China, to my new home, Michigan, U.S.A.
July 11th, 2010, I traveled back to China, specifically to Yulin, China, to adopt my younger sister, Jade.
Spring of 2013, I met my best friend, Liberty, who is still my best friend today.
May 10th, 2014, I moved fifteen minutes away, but to this day, I still call it my home.
December 26th, 2015, my sister, parents, and I took a one week trip down to Orlando, Florida, to meet my mom’s side of the family for a villa vacation.
May 16th, 2016, I rolled my ankle badly in gym class playing flag football, which prohibited me from going to my 8th-grade track and field conference.
January 8th, 2018, my family and I returned to China for two weeks on vacation.
On February 23rd, 2019, I had my 16th birthday party, a murder mystery theme.
April 11th, 2019, I received my driver’s license.
August 10th, 2020, I experienced my first heartbreak.

Change revealed itself as positive and negative throughout my life, though it has spun me into the person I am today.