I was born and raised in Michigan, but haven’t been here all my life.  As a kid, my family had a huge garden, two cows, a goat, plenty of deer in our yard, lots of trees to climb, and a garage my parents (and their friends) built themselves.  We were so happy on that property, but we didn’t get to stay there long.

When I was only seven, my father went back into the military and we were whisked away to NY.  We didn’t have a garden, we had rules on what we could and couldn’t do with our yard, and our house got inspected by strangers because of house inspections a few times a year.  We never stayed in one state more than three years, and we have never stayed in one house for more than two years.

In the past 13 years, I have moved 10 times, had 13 different places I called my home (including a sailboat, a hotel we stayed in for two months, and an apartment we had stayed at for a few months).  We have lived in six different states, and two different country’s (along with visiting almost every state in the East coast of A the US, and eight different country’s).  Though there were some times I hated that lifestyle, and dreamed for the day I would get to stay in a place for more than three years, I have learned to respect that way of life and wouldn’t have traded that life for anything in the world.

Because of the way I was raised, it makes the way I am living much sweeter.  After all, you don’t know sweet, ’till you’ve tasted sour..  Not that the Military life was sour!  Because of it, I’ve got to visit and live in the United States AND other country’s as well.

When I turned seventeen, my family got to live in Germany for three years.  We loved it there and we actually learned a lot of things about how to live a cleaner life.  For example; Germany recycles EVERYTHING!  There were four to five different bins to put your stuff in everywhere.  Paper/cardboard, glass, plastics, trash, and compostable food.  Everything has to be recycled, and I think that’s beautiful!  Another thing we learned from Germany is the amazing power of solar panels and wind turbines.  Not only are there fields and fields of food, but there were fields upon fields of solar panels and wind turbines (along with solar panels on every roof).  It was very rare to see power lines there, and I hope to one day see that here in America (and someday on my property).

We got to see many other countries and the way their economy worked the three years we were there, and it taught me a lot about what I wanted for my future property.

When I was 11, my family moved to the south for the first time in our lives and we were shocked at how different the south was!  The time we lived in KY, there was a ‘huge snow storm’ and according to the south, the few inches of snow they got there, was record breaking!  The whole base shut down and no one knew what to do!  To my family, it was laughable.  We spent three years in KY, before having to move even further down to GA for another two years.  By then, we were both sick, and used to, the southern heat..

Now, my brother and I were homeschool by a young age.  We loved being homeschool and liked it much better than when we were in public school.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved public school when I was in it for my first few years, and everyone experiences school in their own way, but to my family, who moved every few years, homeschooling was much easier!  We had a homeschool group in KY that was great!  And my brother and learned a lot of cool things there, but nothing beats the homeschool group we had in GA!  Although we were only in it for a year and a half, we got to go to Prom, learn life skills like ACT/SAT prep classes, and even took college tours.  Along with countless classes, amazing friends, and amazing teachers!  This non military homeschool group accepted us with open arms, when the military did nothing to help us.  To us, this was new.  It didn’t matter what religion, color, birth place, or gender we were, this group was there for us through thick and thin!

So many things in my life brought me to where I am today.  The military taught me that I wanted a permanent place to live.  Being homeschooled taught me to be social and helped me to love learning new things and to experiment (mostly with the gardening and building parts).  And finally, all the traveling my family did together and all the friends we made had made my family closer to each other, because sometimes, all we had were each other.

What makes you who you are today?  Who impacted your life the most?  And would you be different today if those things had never happen?

Enjoy your day, smile more, and ask someone in your life about their life story.  You may just find out what makes them them!

See more everyday homesteading stuff like quotes, lifestyle, pictures, stories, etc, at my official Facebook page here.