Working around people, make sure everyone in the family has everything done, before getting at the door. Very different mornings ever since school has started. I’ve still haven’t adjusted to all the bedrooms being filled, not having as much privacy as I used too. As well as working around people. I mean I guess that’s what its like to have siblings.
   

The divorce happened when I was young, around the age of 2. I vaguely remember the arguments, and my mom always being there, not so much of my dad. When I started 2nd grade that’s when I started doing every other week at my dads, so I could still see him. My mom and dad both agreed that was the best decision. That worked well for a while, up until I started middle school. That’s when all of it changed, I didn’t see my dad as much. Maybe at least once a month, and it slowly went to every 2 months, then it slowly adjusted to whenever we were both available. Not seeing my dad was hard on me, because I always was much closer to him rather than my mom. My dad and I had this bond that I thought was unbreakable. The same taste in music, sports, and other interest. Whenever we drove to Kentucky to see his side of the family we would always come up with inventions that could make us billionaires’, and I could go wherever I wanted with him. Since we moved the summer of 2016 that’s officially when my relationship with my dad was gone. I never saw him; he was constantly busy getting his life back together after the big incident that happened only a few months ago. I understood what he told me “It is going to be busy these few months; I’ll try to see you as much as I can. I love you.”
   

The summer going into 9th grade was very different, then anything I had dealt with before. That summer I found out my mom met a guy, I was happy that she was happy. Didn’t really think much about it, and what it could lead too. After a few months went by. My mom and her boyfriend got more serious. I finally broke, because I actually realized that my childhood dream that my mom and dad would get back together, wouldn’t happen. Even though I know it would never happen, it was always what my 6-year-old self-fancied. My mom was never home Friday nights some Saturday nights. I felt like she didn’t want to be around me anymore, that she found someone else that was more important. I slowly became very depressed and alone, because it was always just my mom and me, then it was just me.
   

December of 2017, my mom and I finally met Jamies (my mom’s boyfriend), kids. They would spend their Saturdays at our house, and during the winter break, they spent a lot more time at our house. Jamie and my mom talked about moving in with each other, planning to do that once the school year ended. Also that December my dad's good friend/roommate, Dina got diagnosed with this very rare and serious cancer, so I never saw my dad because he was dealing with Dina. As the months went on I lost contact with him, mostly. I would get a random text here and there to see how I was doing.
   

Summer 2018 was good; I went on this amazing beach trip with my small group from church. When I got back from the trip Jamie and the kids were all moved in. I was discombobulated, I had a lot of adjusting to do, going from being an only child for 15 years with one parent, being a household of two. To become a household of five, having two “step-siblings” and a “stepfather.” I became responsible for watching two kids, I couldn’t go hang out with my friends during the day. I got used to it though. In July, Jack and Rylee went on a trip. My dad contacted me and told me he wanted to see me. That day with my dad he told me some news that I was unaware of. He told me “Your mom used to always keep me in the loop even though I couldn’t see you I knew what was happening in your life. Then when Jamie came into your mom’s life. That slowly stopped, I knew nothing that was happening in your life. I want that to change. I want to see you, know what’s going on in your life. I miss my daughter.” When he told me that it was really hard for me to comprehend because I never knew that and I thought my dad just didn’t care.
  

From being a family of two to becoming a family of five is still an adjustment I will have to get used too. Having divorced parents doesn’t bother me as much as it used too. Jamie, Jack, Rylee, my mom, and I are currently a happy family. Everything that has happened in the last year has been hard for me, it was a lot of change happening all at once, but things have calmed down and I’ve haven’t been really depressed or have had terrible anxiety since then. I’ve learned from this past year that things take time, and it's not going to be as bad as you think.