Broken Hearted

Have you ever wondered how two people who loved each other can suddenly cease to? Have you ever wondered the effect this action has on the ones around them? Today in America, over fifty percent of marriages end in a divorce. Isn't that sad? It makes one wonder if love really does last a lifetime. I have thought about these questions with sadness. My parents are divorced.

I can recall the events like it was yesterday. It was the summer before I started high school. I remember the tears my younger sister, little brother, and myself shed. I remember how my older brother felt, being so far away from us in his college in North Carolina. The image of my mom screaming at my dad to stay away from her, and my dad being taken by the police is still poignant as well.

Looking back, I remember being extremely angry with my mother- I believed that everything was her fault for causing my dad to move out and filing restraining orders against him like a criminal. My dad did not touch her, as far as I know. Maybe he did- I never really asked him. Honestly, I admit that I still partly blame my mom, but later my father said that he left on his own. Whatever the reason, I was suddenly without a father in my house and an empty part of me.

I cried nearly every day after that fateful day in August. I could not find comfort at all. All I remember is feeling helpless and perhaps that was my fault that my parents separated. I had no one who completely understood the situation to talk to. As I think of it now, I wonder how I managed to deal with my sadness and pain, but unfortunately I don't remember.

There's something awful about watching tension build up between two parents in the same room. Before my dad moved, I was so scared that one of them would snap and start shouting at each other. It was so uncomfortable that I couldn't wait to leave the room. It pained me.

I don't know how my younger sister dealt with the divorce, but my little brother took it hard, as I recall. He was only in first grade. Dad told me that one time Mom was screaming at him and wouldn't stop, so he covered Jonathan's ears while Jonathan cried. I'm certain that a young child is traumatized when a divorce takes place- they believe that Mommy and Daddy hate each other. I felt so bad for my little brother.

I couldn't help eavesdropping. I remember that my mom would argue with my dad on the phone in the basement. The air vent in the bathroom was a convenient

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