Some things in life are good and some are bad, but you always try to make the most out of it.  Being little is the best thing that could happen to anybody.  Running around as a child with no fear and no worries never ever expecting pain would hurt not only you but everyone around.  You don’t look forward to relationships ending or friends leaving or family being angry for no reason.  When you are young, you don’t for one minute think about a family tearing apart and breaking away.  When there is no forgiveness and no sorry feelings within you, you feel like everything is worthless and maybe there is no such thing as love.  That is something that no child should go through.  Divorce is one big mess, especially when you thought everything would be good for the rest of your life.

            I am the only girl in my family, and I have three brothers.  We were homeschooled by my mother, and my dad worked at a hospital all day.  When I was younger, I remember my dad coming home in time to eat supper then watch TV with me and my brothers.  It was a lot of fun seeing him at the end of the day to tell him all of the adventures we had been busy looking for.  I loved being with my dad and sitting on his lap smiling with over flowing joy.  Even though I don’t recall him being with me most of my childhood, I do remember the times he was.

            Time went on and winter passed by.  Summers were the most fun seasons out of all four.  My family and I would always go to the beach and play in the sun during the hot days.  One of my dad’s nurses had a boat with a tube, and we would ride on it with water splashing in our faces at least three times a week.  We spent a lot of time with this nurse and her name was Val.  We loved Val so much that my dad thought she should come over to the house.  It was different because before, my dad would work through out the day, and all of a sudden he was home more with this lady.  I don’t know if my mom liked it very much, but we kids didn’t think anything of it, and we still loved our mother way more than Val.           

            A new unfamiliar place came our way, we moved into this huge three story house with too much room for six people.  It was a very rough change for my family and me.  My brothers and I, didn’t know it yet, but my parents had been fighting for awhile, and it came to our attention on that day that we were moving that my father wasn’t even there half the time we were moving and neither was Val.  They were the two people who were the most excited for this project, and they weren’t even there.  My dad’s best friend was there with his family, but not my dad.  He eventually came rolling up with his pickup ready to move.  It seemed like when he came, everything was all ready moved in.  That night we tried out our new home, and I slept on the floor in my brothers’ room because I was scared of my own.  I guess my mom slept in my room while I slept in my brothers’.

            It unfolded quite bluntly in front of all of us.  More fights occurred over the dumbest subjects, and my dad wasn’t home as much as I’d like him to be.  Finally after living in the huge haunted house for two and a half years, they told us that they were getting a divorce.  From there it went into sinking sand, and I was a changed little girl.  I was about eleven years old at this time, and my world felt like a rock dropping into the ocean.  I was angry and confused at this moment in time.  After my parents told us that they were getting a divorce, my dad was never home.  I never saw Val after that day and I didn’t even want to think about her or talk to her.  I was filled with unforgiveness towards my father, my mother, and Val.  I decided to enclose my self in myself.  I chose not to let anybody into my head or heart.  I stopped going to church, and I stopped being with my family.  I was away from home as much as I could be without being pictured as a run away.  The only good thing at this point was my best friend.  She asked me to audition for the play downtown called Christmas Shoes.  I, was all for it and looked forward to meeting new people and being involved with something besides church and dance.  I ended up receiving one of the minor lead roles, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.  I thank God for my best friend because without her I would have never found my favorite hobby. 

            My mom moved into town that same year, which was a plus because now I was closer to all my friends, and I could be involved with more play productions.  My dad ended up marrying Val, which was no surprise, and I did not attend the wedding.  I do regret not going to the wedding because, even though Val was mostly the cause for everything that had happened, I still should have been there for my dad.  After they got married, they moved to Wisconsin where my dad kept being a doctor and Val a nurse.  My mother got a job as a physical therapist.  My brothers started going one by one into high school, and now I am in high school myself.  I have been involved with many play productions in the past three, four years, and it is what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I have been attending church as well since we all need support from somewhere besides our friends and family.  My relationship with my brothers is building up again from being torn down, and I have a little rat terrier whom I love with my whole heart.  I have not really tried having a relationship with Val again, but I deal with her just for and only for my dad. I have had ups and downs with my dad, but I know he still loves me and he knows I still love him.  Out of all the bad there was much more good, that came out of it.  And now I know what I am going to do with my life, and I definitely know who I am.