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4 Walls, 4 Houses, 1 Home

        The four walls of the hospital room heard my cries on the 18th of January, 2010. According to my grandmother, she was the first person to have held me when I was born. On that day, I was named Maxim Maiev. My mother told me the name Maxim came from her great grandmother, my great great grandmothers, name which was Maximina. On the other hand, the name Maiev came from a video game character.

        For the first year of my life, I lived with my maternal side of the family Bacsayan, San Juan, La Union. We lived in our family house which was part of a small family compound. After a year, we moved to Pampangga, where we lived with my aunt. She owned a lot of pets, which is probably where my love for animals stemmed from. My time there was cut short however, when I had to move to Quezon City to live with my paternal aunts and grandmother.

        I don't remember why I had to move, but I assume it's because my aunts went back abroad, my mother was busy with her work
, and my maternal grandmother passed away a few months prior. I spent two years there until I finally moved to my current residence. For 11 years of my life, I've lived at Brgy. 1, Bantay, Ilocos Sur, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.




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