For the past four years, my family and I have moved four times. In the summer of 2010, we hauled everything from our longtime home in Austin to a tiny town 45 minutes from Lubbock. The school had fewer than 50 high school students. Since then, we’ve lived in four different West Texas/Panhandle towns, stopping for two years here in Canyon.

This summer, our family will move again, this time to a bigger house in Amarillo. These last two stagnant years have felt like an eternity to my now nomadic nature. The experience has so far been the most hectic few months of my life. The entire contents of my current home will need to be ready to be moved the day after I graduate from high school.

My family is finally getting the type of home we have always wanted. Better yet, what used to be a unit consisting of my mother, my older sister and myself will be complete with the new additions from my step-father’s family. The three of us were always perfectly content with just each other because we are all three tremendously close. I never felt disadvantaged growing up merely because my family did not look like everyone else’s. We always considered ourselves lucky to have the kind of relationship that many families never achieve. My new step-dad and siblings bring unique and new types of love to the table that only add to the already huge pile of blessings I count at night.

This move feels more permanent than any other has, and not just because of the house. Though I’ll have to sacrifice some sleep and carefully balance my overfilling schedule for the next month, it will be well worth it.

I think that my older sister and I can see that our mom who worked all of our lives for us with a smile is getting the great home and husband she deserves. For that, I will happily haul everything to yet another home, no matter how tired I am from the all-night party.