Were you surprised at how easily Quiara adapted to a more rural setting?

When Quiara first moved from urban Philadelphia to a more rural setting, she said the woods whispered, “We are your new brat pack.” Were you surprised at how easily she adapted? If you moved as a child, how does this compare to your experience?

I think she adapted well because of her mother and the things she taught her about living with and learning from the nature that surrounded her.

I grew up in the north end of Seattle and loved our trips to downtown Seattle. My relatives lived in Lake Stevens which back then was still country. My grandparents had a dairy farm, my uncle had a chicken farm. We went to the country as we called it every other Sunday. At my Aunt Kate’s home there were pigs and a nasty rooster that chased me! I guess I can say I was lucky to belong to both worlds! In 1976 my husband and I moved east of the mountains to Wenatchee. A small town and very country. I adapted fine and am still happy in Wenatchee. But also glad I still have family to visit in Seattle! So I was not surprised how well she adapted.

I was surprised, since she went from having a lot of friends and family around her to having her best friend be the trees around her parents' property. I would have thought she'd have had trouble adapting to such a dramatically different environment.

My family moved when I was eight, from downtown Cleveland to the eastside suburbs, and it wasn't a good experience for me at the time. I had a lot of difficulty fitting in at school and it was painful; I was bullied mercilessly. I also went from getting excellent grades without even trying to struggling with assignments (which says something about the school systems at the time).

I think that Quiara learned at a very young age how to be part of the woodwork. Like many only children she was excellent at doing things for herself and entertaining herself.

I moved from a large city to a nearby small town when I was a child. In my experience, children do adapt to this type of move. It was interesting for me to read about the ways Quiara adapted. I do think parents can be important in adapting to a move - my mother was important to my adapting, just as Quiara's was to her adapting.

I was a bit surprised at how well Quiara adjusted/adapted to the rural setting. More than once, she made reference to the fact how her extended family members did not visit after they moved. I thought this would have had a negative impact on Quiara.
I certainly enjoyed reading about the family's new surroundings and how Quiara adapted.

I wasn’t surprised. I moved often as a child and it didn’t take me long to assimilate. I think children tend to be more adaptive going with the flow and that’s what Quiara did shuttling back and forth between her parents and cousins.

I did not move as a child. I grew up in a rural setting - my father was a farmer. I do not think it would be difficult to assimilate to a rural setting, having lived almost my entire life as an adult in the city. The truth is, whether as a child or as an adult, one can assimilate to one's setting by simply making up one's mind to do so.

I agree with cathyoc. Quiara never struck me as much of a joiner. I got the sense that she spent a lot of time in her head as a child. She was inquisitive and an observer. I got the impression that sometimes there was just too much going on when she was at her grandmother's house- -kind of a sensory overload for such an introverted person. As an only child (for 16 years at least), she was used to entertaining herself and comfortable alone. Her rural home provided her with new experiences, sounds, and smells. It was also the place where her mother first felt the freedom to share something "secret" and personal with her. I think this is why she did not struggle as much to adapt when her family moved.

I wasn't surprised but it made me think back to my childhood. One day my father said to us "if you come home from school and there's a farm animal on the porch, we're moving to a farm." I was 7 or 8 at the time and my parents were both from NYC. We moved to a 350 acre farm and had to quickly learn how to care for animals of all sizes, mending fences, baling hay, healing skills, gardening skills, etc. The farm part was awesome - I thrived on all of that even though it was a lot of work. However, a new school, an uncommon name and little money for fancy clothes made the non-farm part tough.

Yes, I was surprised. I only had my own experience to draw upon. I moved from hustle and bustle Southern California when I was 16 to podunk small town Texas and I felt like a fish out of water. Not only did I talk faster than everyone, the styles, dress and local norms were so different than where I grew up. I never felt like I belonged.