Kendra Begordis recalls moving frequently during her childhood, living in several houses and neighborhoods in Minnesota and Virginia from when she was in second grade until the present. Some of the homes included living with her mother and step-father in Minnesota, then moving in with grandparents in Virginia when her step-father got a new job, followed by moves to houses in Suffolk, Norfolk, Clear Lake in Minnesota which she liked best, and then Detroit Lakes in Minnesota which they disliked before finally settling in their current home in Michigan.

1. Kendra Begordis

2. The furthest
back that I can
remember is
when my mother
and I lived in a
duplex in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota. We
were renting it,
and it was a quiet
neighborhood.

3. My mother got engaged
to my step-dad, Brian and
we moved in with him. At
this point I was in 2nd
grade, and his house was
a very obnoxious green.

4. Brian wasn’t happy
with the money he
was making in
Minnesota, and he
got a much better job
offer for the Lion’s
Medical Eye Bank of
Eastern Virginia. We
moved in with my
grandparents in
Portsmouth, Virginia
that summer.

5. It was then that my mother also began to
work for the Eye Bank. The house was stuffy
and cramped and we were ready to live on
our own, so we moved to a beautiful house in
Suffolk.

6. We would
probably still be
there now, if the
landlord wasn’t
selling the
house. Because
of this we were
forced to move
again.

7. The next house
was a lopsided,
apartment in
Norfolk, Virginia.
My family and I
commonly refer to
Norfolk as “the
armpit of
America”, because
where we lived it
was very
dangerous.

8. It was at this house
that my mother was
diagnosed with thyroid
cancer. She went
through radiation
treatment and couldn’t
safely be touched for
ten days—which was
the time it took to pack
up our things and head
back to Minnesota.

9. We found a gorgeous house, on a lake, in Clear Lake,
Minnesota. Clear Lake was my favorite house and it
was the longest time I had ever been in one school
district—just a little over two school years.

10. My parents wanted to buy a house, so we ended up
moving again, and I was devastated. The house we
bought was a much smaller house in Detroit Lakes,
Minnesota, and we all hated that house with a passion.

11. We had vacationed to
Michigan during the
summer and my parents
fell in love with the area.
We found and bought the
house we are currently in
and we plan on staying
here for a while.