Me

Despite the fact that I tell virtually everyone that I’m from New Jersey, I wasn’t born or raised there. I don’t actually feel like I’m ‘from’ there, either. I think the reason I tell people that is because it’s a lot easier to name one of the oh-so-familiar tri-state areas than to explain that I was born in the Virgin Islands (and no, not while my parents were on vacation). My picture, above, is the VI flag. I was born on St. Thomas and lived there for three years before moving with my mom and brother to New York, Florida, New York again, and eventually New Jersey. Although I had only lived there year-round for three years, I spent at least four months there every year afterwards, visiting/ living with my dad. I don’t really feel connected to, or have an identity with, any of the states I’ve lived in since, but I do feel a strong connection with my birthplace. Practically all of my happiest memories took place there, and I feel like it is a part of me as much as I am of it.