Independence day, the American holiday commemorating the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, is celebrated on July 4th. Americans might gather with family and friends, have a barbeque and launch some fireworks to celebrate the birth of our nation. Well, on July 4th, 2012 it was Independence Day. But it also happened to be my 4th birthday and I certainly wasn’t surrounded by friends enjoying some nice smoked ribs and fireworks. In fact, I was with my parents and brother at an airport in Seattle preparing for a 16 hour flight to Okinawa, Japan. My dad was a Marine, and we were moving to Camp Kinser, a military base near the capital of Okinawa. At 4 years old I knew what courage was, not the word itself, but what it looked like. Courage wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t a superhero with superpowers or a model walking a runway. For me, the hero was my dad and courage was staying positive when I was sad. More specifically, courage was holding my tears back when dad was deployed and I couldn’t hug him goodnight. Courage was the paper chains I made to count down the days until he came home from deployment. And courage was saying goodbye to my old friends, and hello to all the new people that I got the chance to meet when we moved. As much as I hated it at the time, reflecting on my past, I can’t imagine my life without those experiences. Now, more than 5 years after my dad retired from the service, courage continues to shape the person I am. I see it in both my past and present. I saw it in the little girl that held her tears back when she was sad. I saw it in the same girl that took her pain and turned it into motivation. I saw it when she joined the boy’s wrestling team because the girl’s division didn’t exist. I saw it when she didn’t give up after losing. I saw it when she placed sixth at girl’s states a year later. I saw it when she tore a ligament in her knee and kept working to heal so she could wrestle again next season. I saw it in the world around me. And I see it now when I look in the mirror. The definition of courage is showing strength in the face of pain or grief. When I’m scared or uncertain, my dad likes to tell me to be courageous by saying, “here’s a straw, suck it up”. Being a military child taught me so many valuable lessons that I could not be more grateful for. I learned that crying won’t solve my problems and the most important thing that I can do in tough situations is keep working towards my goals. I know for a fact that without the courage that I gained from my experiences I would not be the person that I am today, and I would not have achieved all that I have. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “if you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done”. When our country declared independence we finally gained freedom, showing that sometimes changes must be made for the sake of becoming better. I’ve learned to no longer fear change, but welcome it as an opportunity to grow.