On October 10th, 1999 in a San Diego hospital, my mother and father for the thousandth time

went over baby names. Adamant on the name Xeria Marie Barahona, my mother attempted to

persuade my father on the unique name. He, being the headstrong man he was, did not agree and

insisted on the name Vanessa. She agreed only if he allowed her to pick the middle name. The

compromise left me with the most unusual spelling of Christine, my full name forever being Vanessa

Kristyne Barahona. The bickering between them never really stopped from then on and at age three

my parents decided it would be best if they divorced. Since then it has always been just my mother

and I. She worked majority of the time and I stayed with my grandparents, where I learned to speak

both Spanish and English.

From ages four to ten I went to Eastwood Elementary, there I met my best friend. We were,

and still are, pretty much inseparable even after 12 years of knowing each other. During this time

most of my days were spent outside with friends or finding new hobbies. My mother signed me up for

every after school activity including art, dance, choir, and cheerleading, but as I grew older, I began

deciding how I would spend my free time. Much of my time was spent going from place to place

during middle school. Not only did I move four times within two years, but I also started camping and

road tripping with my friends family. I found a new love for hiking, biking, off roading, and anything

that was very different from the city life my mom was so fond of. I found solace in new places and

developed a sense of wanderlust that never really went away.

It was at this time that my mom decided we would move to an entirely new city. Switching

schools had brought me into an area of unfamiliarity. I often grew comfortable with the people I had

known for all my life and never really aimed to meet anyone new. That changed pretty quickly going

into sophomore year when I met new friends at Centennial High School. The change really allowed

me to become who I knew I was without fear of others saying that it was so unlike my character

simply because no one knew me. I made friends with people I would have never spoken to before

because of my shy nature. I soon felt welcomed at school and, despite the fact that I only knew them

for a short time, my friends became some of the people I am closest to today. For the next two years
I worked on really doing things that I enjoyed which included drawing, music, photography, writing,

reading, and an unhealthy obsession with nail design that resulted in a collection with over 200

bottles of polish. Although we lived in Corona, most of mine and my mothers time was still spent

driving back and forth from Orange County. It was decided last June that we would move back and I

re-enrolled back to Westminster, where I first began my four years of high school. Everything soon fell

back into place effortlessly and although two years of events had passed, little to nothing had

changed. My friends and I still do our Wednesday adventures to random places within Los Angeles,

our group still goes out to eat every other Friday, and we always make time to go shopping. Now, with

a little more than two months until graduation, I am finishing off high school with the same group of

friends that I promised I would spend senior year with.