Back in Missouri, when I was much younger, I lived in a city called Grandview.

My home

was an apartment building and our residence was on the bottom livingspace. It was fine. It had

a screen door that opens outside to a tiny patio where the parking lot was. My school at the time

was Burke Elementary. It wasn’t the best schools. The same can be said for Grandview as a

whole but it didn’t matter to me much at the time But for my mom it did. She did not really like

the area that much but it wasn’t a deal breaker. The problem was the school. My school, Burke,

and I’s relationship wasn’t the best. That was a deal breaker so we ended up moving. We

moved to Lee’s Summit. Still in Missouri but around 25 minutes away. It was a better

environment. I was now the new kid to everything so that was great. Being a new kid meant new

struggles so that was also great. Fortunately, finding friends on my street didn’t become a never

ending battle. It took pushing that nervous feeling to the side to make introductions but it

happened. Xavier, Montgomery, and Quint became my new best friends that day and I was

glad. They were all brothers so it only took me walking a few steps to meet the whole gang. We

spent most of our time in their driveway. They hand a basketball hoop in their driveway because

they each loved basketball. Xavier and Montgomery were good but Xavier was the best and

happened to be the oldest. We did a lot of different things there and in the area but playing

basketball against each other was the thing we did the most. Only time we could was during the

winter but once it passed a new game was ready to start. They’ve since moved away now but

my memories of then still remain with me.