Personal Essay

Moving is a long and strenuous process, yet I move every year.

Growing up, my family stayed in one location, Parker, Colorado, and all I remember is being bored every single day. It was a great district for education and raising kids, but outside of academics, there wasn’t much to do.

I was so ready to move once I graduated from high school, but then COVID-19 happened. I was forced to finish my last semester online, which I honestly didn’t mind; I didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn, and I could stay in my pajamas all day.

The continued quarantine of summer 2020 encouraged me to start college classes early. My high school ended up having an outdoor graduation in late July, but at that time, I was already a college student; I already had my diploma, and it felt pointless. In the fall of 2020, I finally moved into the dorms at the University of Colorado, Denver, and suffice to say, it was a disaster.

Lynx Crossing, the official dorm name, was full of students from all over the country, yet meeting people was nearly impossible. Luckily, I had met my current partner through a Zoom course earlier in the semester, but he was the only person I knew, and he was extremely busy all the time. I was finally placed in a four-person dorm room with three other girls, but it was a tricky situation. Each of my roommates was very particular about the way they lived, and it was impossible to feel comfortable. Towards the end of the year, I tested positive for COVID, and since it was a week before the end of the term, they kicked me out instead of placing me in a quarantine room. The hellish situation encouraged my partner and me to find a place off-campus.

Due to the ordeal at CU Denver, I no longer wanted to attend the university and transferred to the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. My partner and I moved into a small apartment right behind Casa Bonita, located on Colfax in Lakewood, and RMCAD was basically our backyard. It was a sketchy area, but the apartment seemed nice enough and affordable at that time. Little did we know that the crime rates were severe, and along with hearing people screaming in the streets, my car was broken into. My partner, unfortunately, had an expensive amp in the trunk, and it was stolen. We tried to make the location work, but by the time our lease was up, they increased the monthly rent, and we felt it was time to move. 

RMCAD was another college that didn’t quite work out. I was attending the school to take photography classes, but it would take several semesters before I could be placed in a photography course, and I needed a way to pay the bills. I ended up working at Daltile as a showroom representative, and the commute from Lakewood was about to be unbearable, so we found an apartment in Englewood. I was excited because it was near the light rail, so my partner could still easily commute to the CU Denver campus, and I was only 10 minutes from my work. The apartment was extremely expensive, but with my new job, it was feasible. A year later, problems arose.

I saw the first cockroach and nearly screamed. It was big, red and squirmy. I killed it thinking it would be the last, but I was wrong. One showed up in our cat’s water bowl. One was burrowing into our rug. One was climbing out of the shower head. I became so paranoid and began seeing cockroaches even when they weren’t there. The last straw was when I woke up one morning, about to blow my nose, when lo and behold, a cockroach was hanging from the exact tissue I was about to use. I really did scream that time. Our apartment’s leasing team refused to do anything about the situation, so we broke our lease and my partner and I made our way back to my childhood home in Parker.

My two sisters took over the Parker house when my mom remarried and moved to Elizabeth, so we became roommates. Living with family is always a precarious situation, but on top of that, the house was deteriorating. Black mold was making its way through the house, and we were getting sick. The commute was also an issue for my partner. He was working in Westminster late on Saturdays and early on Sundays. The sleep deprivation was apparent after totaling his vehicle on his way to work Sunday morning. Everyone involved in the accident was okay, but I was distraught. I knew we had to leave once again for our safety.

After only three months in the Parker house, we decided we needed to move closer to my partner’s work. We found a lovely place in Broomfield rather quickly, and I still wish we had found it sooner. The commute was difficult for my work at Daltile, but I was already having issues with my coworkers after being promoted, so I gave up my comfy, yet unsatisfying job. Broomfield really was a great location to live, but finding a new job was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. After months of no success, I decided it was time for me to resume working on my degree and to actually focus on something I enjoyed for a change.

Colorado State University has been a great experience, and I am grateful for the online capabilities. After graduating, my partner started working full time, and I was able to focus solely on school from the walls of our apartment. Recently, however, things have changed. Our rent was increasing, and we had to make a tough decision about whether I could continue to attend school without working in Colorado. That was until we received a call from my partner’s brother asking if we wanted to move to Los Angeles, California, with him. My partner’s brother was working for NASA, but the new presidential administration was risking the security of his position, and he found a new position as an engineer for a private corporation. He made the choice to move from the East Coast to the West Coast, and he needed support. We were willing to be that support.

We packed up our belongings at the beginning of July and moved halfway across the country. I’ve moved plenty of times, but never this far. We had to stay in Twain Harte, California, with my partner’s parents for a couple of weeks while the apartment was being renovated, but we finally moved in halfway through July. California is extremely different than Colorado, and it has been a drastic change in scenery. I really enjoy the ocean, but I do miss the mountains. Unfortunately, Los Angeles is extremely expensive, so I do have to work while attending school, but I am determined to complete my degree. The past few weeks of my life have felt like pure chaos, but I am finally settling in, and I am excited to see what the future holds. I just hope I don’t have to move again…