It all started in Indiana where I was born although I don’t really remember. I don’t remember being born but when you get into deep enough conversations with your parents you can picture it. When I was around three my family moved to South Carolina. I remember my baby bracelet and my baby ring. I was playing with one of my older brothers outdoors and lost it in the tall grass. When I was four, I moved to Vermont. All six of us lived with my grandmother. I remember sitting in the bathtub, mom washing my hair and there I realized it was so long I was sitting on it. We moved from Cambridgeport to Grafton. My youngest older brother was about 6 so I was 4. There was a huge field with grass over my head. We used to play hide and seek in it but when we finished we had to check ourselves for ticks. The house in Grafton was where I saw snow for the first time. My brother Brent ran upstairs woke us up and said, “it’s snowing”. We ran downstairs to the glass sliding door. From that house we moved to Bellows Falls and back to Grafton where I started kindergarten. Grafton is where we built a house at least a 10-mile hike into the woods – nobody there – silent – I loved it. We had pigs, chickens and cows. Crazy amazing. Loved it – pigs ran loose. I will never forget the time Troy and I made a snowman and used dog food for the eyes but then the pig comes along and eats it.
~paige thibodeau, 15, (bellows falls, vt)
