By Jessica Miller

I was ten years old and waiting at the airport to board my plane. My family and I were traveling to California to visit my grandparents. My mom-mom and pop-pop lived in a beautiful house with the backyard backing up to a big forest. There were huge mountains and long lakes, filled with animals. Everytime my family traveled to California and visit my grandparents, we would hike in their backyard for hours. I had not seen my grandparents in two years, so I was looking forward to catching up with them on our hike.

After two long plane rides, we finally arrived in California; we rented a car and made our way to see them. Once we arrived, I was astonished to see a moving van. I jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. After ringing the doorbell multiple times, my mom-mom finally answered. I gave her a big hug and greeted their dog, Sophie. After my family settled in, my pop-pop came in the room to give us the news.

He explained how they were moving to a retirement community in Reno Nevada. They felt they had to move since their house was isolated, and they were too far from any hospitals. They saw my expression fade; I knew it was a good decision for them to move, but knew that I would miss all the adventures in their old house. They tried to cheer me up by explaining that the new retirement community would have a pool, a workout facility, and a social club. I tried to look happy and gave them both a big hug, then wandering to the back yard.

Later that day, we went to visit their new house. The community was very nice with cute, small homes, but the houses were nothing like their old home. We helped move some of their stuff in and then went down to the lodge to have lunch. After lunch, my brother, sister, and I went outside to explore the community. We found walking trails that were nothing like the great hikes at the old house; the paths were paved and easy to walk on. We followed one trail all the way to the top of a hill. At the top of the hill, there was a beautiful view of the entire community. My brother, sister, and I sat down and enjoyed the view. Later, we continued exploring and realized how much we loved their new home in Reno, Nevada.