This document is a summary of the narrator's childhood told through different locations they lived from 1992-2012. It describes their idyllic childhood in Gadsden, Alabama riding bikes and climbing trees. They then moved to Jackson, Mississippi where they found refuge in books but their friend moved away. Next they lived in San Diego, California in their adolescence where they were happy and involved in various sports teams and activities. However, it was all "snatched away" when they had to choose between family or Shanghai, China where they started over, made new friends, was involved in various activities, traveled, and was changed by the culture and ideas.

1. Written on a Hazy, Lazy,
Summer Day
Alicia Chen 

2. Gadsden, Alabama: 1992-2002
An idyllic American childhood. Safe, friendly suburbia
Is where this story begins. Here a tomboy rides her bike,
Climbs trees and proudly displays scabby elbows and knees.
Curled up at night reading Harry Potter and off
Dreaming on one of her adventures. Saving the world.
T-ball games, swim meets. Classes. Summer.
Days blur as the seasons come and go. Autumn leaves change
Into Christmas lights. And then the world is green again.

3. Jackson, Mississippi: 2002
Still a Southern girl. But now everything is different
Here it is hotter, and there are spiders in the trees.
The swamps send in waves of moist, hot air.
But the girl discovers refuge in Lord of the Rings
And the one friend she has there.
Her friend moves. She finds out she is moving too.
She is glad to be gone.

4. San Diego, California: 2003-
2006
Adolescence; in this city of beaches, Hollisters and retirees.
Here in this city full of pink houses all in a row
Like the ticky tacky song. The girl is happy here.
Here she has friends. Cliques struggle for popularity but she
doesn’t
Care. She’s captain of the knowledge bowl team and getting
ready
For tennis tournaments and twice-a-day field hockey.
She will continue all of this in the high school down the
street.
But then it’s all snatched away. She has to choose: family, or

5. Shanghai, China: 2006-
2012
This huge bustling city. Full of life, energy. Pulsing with history.
The girl starts over. New friends: her best friends.
Volleyball, Soccer, Habitat. Classes. Hard work. Bus rides.
Traveling and seeing the cultures of a people she shares
ancestors with,
Even a common tongue. Their ideas challenge hers:
She is forever changed. Six years later
She has watched buildings rise higher than the clouds. And
everywhere
Are glamour and endless city lights. She is fiercely possessive.