My mom made the decision to have me move in with my dad. It was a blazing hot Saturday, the kind that you can only find in the suburbs of Las Vegas. I was laying down on the couch, watching tv and I could hear my mom talking on the phone in the kitchen. “I’m down to my last $100 and we don’t have any food….She’s your daughter too, and I would rather have her live in a place where I know that it would be more stable. It will only be temporary, until I can find a stable job...Ok, the soonest possible flight would be the best….Ok, thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.” She hung up the phone and sighed. I could hear her steps as she walked across the kitchen floor, so I quickly averted my attention back to the tv to make it seem like I wasn’t listening. She walked into my room, and I could hear her open the zipper to my suitcase. I tried to ignore it, but my curiosity got the best of me. I walked into my room and timidly said, “Mommy, what’s going on? How come you’re packing up my clothes?” Tears filled her eyes as she tried to answer, but instead broke down sobbing. “I-I’m sorry sweetie. But you’re going to have to move to your daddy’s house. I lost my job and I don’t have enough money to make sure that you have everything that you need.” At the time, I didn’t really understand what was going on. I just thought that I was going to be going on vacation for the summer or something. Little did I know that this trip would impact me for the rest of my life.
Later that day, after my mom had finished packing my belongings, we drove to the airport. She carried in my luggage and walked me to where my plane was waiting for departure. As I boarded the plane, I looked back and my mom waved at me. I could see her eyes swelling with tears, and I wanted to run back and hug her, but instead I kept on walking. I took my seat, and slept for the majority of the plane ride. When I woke up, it was time to get off the plane. I grabbed my carry ons, and went to go find my dad. He was the first person I saw when I got off the plane, and I ran to go and hug him. We drove back to my new home, and I went to bed because I was exhausted from the day.
It wasn’t until several years later that I realized the importance of this event in my life. What I thought was going to be a summer vacation turned out to be where I ended up living for the majority of my childhood. This experience made me realize just how much my parents cared about me, because my mom was willing to do whatever she could in order to make sure that I was okay and my dad accepted the responsibility of caring for me when he knew my mom couldn’t.