One of the questions that makes me fumble over my words is “Where are you from?”

I have served as a writer for the military in some form throughout my entire career, which means a lot of moving around and lacking of a place to be “from.”

The more I talk about it, though, the more I realize where I’m from is not where I grew up.

I claim Ohio, since I was born and raised in Cincinnati, but I’ve lived as a legal resident in three different states over the last 10 years. So, it’s not exactly true to say I’m from there. But, I’m not a Georgia peach and I’m not an Alabama or Texas southern Belle, either. So, from? Well, it’s quite the story.

I moved around for journalism. I served four years as a soldier, but the other six were as a journalist.

It’s difficult to answer because where I’m from is two Army bases where I lived in hotels and completed internships for college; then two more military installations in Georgia, including one where I donned the uniform and was sent to a base overseas. I also lived in two Alabama homes just across the state line from the Peach State with unexpected roommates who were my friends. Finally, I’m from a $425/ month apartment in a tiny town in Texas where the whole town knew my name and face from a column I wrote about living at a campground my first week in town.

But all of this doesn’t fit in an introductory handshake conversation, at least not before I’ve gauged if they care to hear it.

I’m a Cincinnati girl, branded by the experiences at Riverbend Music Center and kayaking adventures with friends in the Whitewater River, as well as Easters with family and celebrating a birthday at least every month with cake and a song sung by the whole family. But that’s not where I grew up.

I grew up having $15 to spare from my first career-job weekly paychecks and surviving off the free summer squash given to me by a coworker from her garden in Texas; I grew up rolling the windows down and slapping my face in the middle of the night to stay awake as I drove nine hours from my home to visit the closest family I had; I grew up posting what I thought was an innocent social media post about hating that a call from a bill collector could make me cry only to be sent a check from a family member that supported my dream and didn’t want to see me drown; I grew up learning the hard way that not every character who joins your story makes it to the proceeding chapters (and I’m still learning this one).

Not only that, but I grew up going to work after having crashed my car on the commute in because I didn’t have anyone to rescue me; I grew up making friends in new states because I know it takes a whole lot of support from a whole lot of different people to make it on your own; I grew up sometimes not getting the invite because no one knows you and you don’t have a clique to be a part of; I grew up missing family members’ last breaths because no mode of transportation can get you where you need to go in an instant. I grew up choosing different priorities in different moments, but somehow living the best life because of it.

I’m no military brat and I’m not even sure that I’m done moving, yet. My story is changing with every decision I face. Right now, it’s that I got tired of watching my family’s lives happen as if I was on the outside looking in. My niece and nephew are growing up and my brother and his wife are getting gray hair. And it was all happening through the posts of a social media feed. I wanted in.

So, now, where I’m from is a place on Polly Lane in Lafayette, Louisiana. I did a whole lot of growing up before I got here, but now I’m in the Bayou State to be a bigger part of the family I’ve been watching grow up from afar.

The people who were a part of it can invisibly put their name in this post. They know where I’m from and when that smile flashes across my face when I’m asked this big question of “Where are you from,” they know all the things flying through my mind because they’ve been a part of my story.

I know where I’m from, and I know where I’ve grown up. This is where I’m at and where I’ll continue growing up.

And from where I’m at, I’ll keep chasing my dream, too, as everchanging as it is.