- Samantha Corcoran

Mo On the Move

       “I’ve never lived in the same house for more than 2 1/2 years. We move someplace and then someplace and then someplace else. My parents don’t really have a reason for moving so much. They get sick of some places or they are tired of the weather in that area.”
       Manon Davidson currently lives in Lompoc, California, where she has lived for about a month and a half. She has lived in Alaska, in Colorado, California and the Dominican Republic. “I used to like moving but now it’s starting to get old,” Manon said. “They probably won’t move for a while because they just bought a place and we aren’t renting anymore.”
       Manon loves Alaska. The Alaska Great Lakes Project crew has been coming to her grandmother’s farm in Homer to camp for many years. “ I like Alaska especially the snow, but sometimes 10 feet of snow is pushing it,” said Manon, who is called Mo for short. She loves the farm and she really loves riding horses. She has her own horse and competes on it.
       Manon is just an ordinary teenager who likes to climb trees and raise horses, but Mo also has to be able to make friends fast since she moves so much. “It’s really easy for me to make friends. I can make friends anywhere,” Manon said. The horses are Mo’s friends too. “The horses really have to trust the human. They have to want to d o it and like to do it. When you’re jumping over something big and scary, something that the horse naturally wouldn’t want to jump over, the horse really has to trust you,” Manon said.
       Manon is home schooled now because it was too hard to keep up with school when her parents would suddenly decide they were moving. “I do keep in touch with my friends from the previous towns I’ve lived in. I’m in touch with my friends in Colorado,” Mo said. The other unique thing about Manon is that she speaks French. She was taught French when she was young at the same time she was learning English, because her mom is originally from France. “ I don’t really have a certain favorite place I’ve lived. I like things and dislike things about every place I’ve lived,” Manon said. “I love Alaska, though, and love coming up here to see my grandma and to see the Alaska Great Lakes Project.”