Personal Narrative: My Family With Divorce

Divorce has become a more common choice for families through the recent years. Each family approaches this situation differently. For my family, this event happened in 2006, when I was just six years old. Looking back, I do not recall anything that stood out as a red flag in my parents marriage up until the day that my dad left. My sister, who was eight at the time, and I sat on the stairs as we suddenly watched our father bring a suitcase downstairs and begin to walk out the front door. As a child I felt lost and disconnected. My mom told me that they were fighting and decided it was in our best interest for them to separate. I did not fully understand what had actually happened until years later when all the pieces came together and I learned that my father that had been so caring toward me had been cheating on my mother and the day he left he moved in with the woman that is now my stepmother.
Through court order, I was to have visitation with my dad Wednesday nights and every other weekend.
At first, it was hard for me to be away from my mom and I was afraid that she was going to leave me like my dad had. After several years, I came to the realization that my mother had gone through an extremely hard time; she went from being a housewife, driving a luxury car and never worrying about how bills would be paid to struggling to find a job, driving a rusted, pink station wagon and getting laid off from work but never even thought about putting her kids second to anything. Although this could never be considered a pleasant time, I have grown as a person in many ways from my parents divorce. I started staying home alone while my mom was at work in fourth grade, I helped cook dinner, pack my own lunch and had more responsibilities put on me. Today, I am an extremely independent person, much due to this, and have learned an immense amount about
life.