One day when I was minding my own business downstairs, I remembered that I was trying to complete one of my Lego sets, and I was watching tv at the same time. I heard some feet coming down the stairs, and then my parents came into the room, and they told me, “Liam, we are getting a divorce.” I stood there stunned. I was confused because it came up so suddenly; they seemed happy yesterday, but apparently it was the opposite. When they told me, I worried that I wasn’t going to live with one of them and I was going to only live with my mom or my dad. After the fact, I went to my room and thought about what would happen to me. My dad bought a house, and I contributed to this idea. We moved in, which took about 2 weeks. I like the house, and I’m in the basement.

After my dad left the house, he went to his sister’s house. He stayed there for about a month, so I couldn’t see him. After that, though, he moved into an apartment, and soon enough, I could go to his house and see. My dad’s apartment was pretty nice, and I thought that it was pretty good. During this time, I got a dog, but I’m not going to go into that very much. My dad didn’t really like our dog, and we had another one before this one. The one before was potty trained, but our new dog was not trained, so that’s why my dad does not really like her. My dog would knock over trash cans and go potty in the house, and after a while, my dad was fed up with it. Because of this, my dog went to my mom’s house and has to stay there now. My mom’s house is good, too. We have a trampoline there, and my dog is there, and I love my dog. We have a sandbox, and we are moving soon.

I go to my dad’s house Monday and Tuesday and my mom’s for Wednesday and Thursday. I rotate on the weekends, so I could be at my dad’s the first weekend of a month, and then the next weekend, I would be at my mom’s house; we would keep rotating like that. When I’m with my mom, I usually play with my dog and watch tv, and when I’m with my dad, I play outside and watch tv. I like to play soccer with my parents. Also, if I were to do the same thing at my dad’s—like, let’s say, kicking my brother—I would get more punished than I would at my mom’s. When I’m at my mom’s, the rules are less strict than at my dad’s, but they are both still pretty strict. I’ve come to understand that. At both houses, I can do stuff at one house but not at the other house (learned that the hard way).

Overall, my parents love all of us—no matter which house we are at. Even though knowing who’s house I’m going to be at or what’s going to happen is confusing, I still love my parents the same amount. My life will probably stay a little bit stable—at least until one of my parents gets remarried (if they do), but that’s for another time. What I’m trying to say is that you should appreciate everything that you have and shouldn’t take it for granted because it could change at any given moment.

© Liam. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.