In Class: thoughts and questions - essay 1

While writing my personal essay I don't know how much information I need to reveal before I get to the point of the story. Should I start with explaining the story and then interpreting it for the reader? Or should I shorten the story and use more explaining of the idea of the story. It's hard to figure out when a story is going on for too long, and when to start explaining your thoughts. My story is about meeting my first friend when I was little and moved to a new state, and a new school. I talk a lot about how moving isn't easy and its not fun trying to have to make new friends. I also talk about how when were younger, were not usually the ones to make the friends--our parents are usually the ones who introduce us to our first friends. Whether our parents have friends who have kids, or if its forced through out of school activities--like joining a soccer team, or taking ballet classes.