My parents divorced…WooHooo!!!
Divorce sucks and it tears apart families, we are all agreed, but not everyone wishes their parents had stayed married.
When I was a child I never wished my parents were still married, and as an adult I am grateful every day my parents divorced.
My sisters and I were raised by our Mother and this is our story…
We grew up on the poorer side of a middle class neighborhood; we did 
not worry about being shot, jumped, or violated in any way when we 
stepped past our front door. We freely rode our bicycles up and down any
 street, we played on playgrounds that were well maintained, drug free 
and free of questionable adults loitering about, and we swam at friends 
pool’s or at the local community pool that had a high dive and full time
 lifeguards.
 We lived in apartments, rented houses, and with our
 grandma. We cleaned house on Saturday’s, usually during commercial 
breaks of whatever classic movie my mother was watching, and we always 
finished with plenty of daylight to spare. Then there were the 
Saturday’s when nothing got done, because we went to the beach instead!
New clothes were bought on sale before every new school year and 
again at Christmas, but name brand labels were no where to be found, 
except for the occasional pair of “please Mama please” sneakers…my 
finest begging and pleading moment was in 1982 for the most awesome pair
 of pink and black Vans ever!
 Because money was tight…we did not
 have soda in our house; it was always homemade iced tea. No chips or 
store bought snacks; instead our mother would pop popcorn on the stove 
like a pro. We ate a lot of hamburger and tuna helper, but our mother 
always made sure we ate our veggies (real ones – no peas or corn for 
us). Every Sunday we had a traditional southern dinner with our 
grandparents. For a special treat we made homemade hot fudge sundaes; 
generic vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and cocktail peanuts. And 
last, but not least, was the special way every beach day ended…with a 
Wendy’s Frosty for every one of us!
 Our mother did the best she 
could, sometimes working two jobs, to keep a roof over our heads and 
food in our bellies. She loved us unconditionally, she had an easy way 
about her, she always had a sense of humor, and she never brought a 
strange man into our home. It was always the four of us, no one came 
between us, but many friends were welcomed through the years to make 
themselves at home. Everyone used my mother’s first name, not because 
she wanted to seem cool, but because the last thing our mother wanted to
 be was a stuffy parent that would make you feel awkward…our home was 
warm, inviting, relaxed, and casual.
 We struggled, we had a 
part-time and eventually an absentee dad, we did not have everything 
handed to us, we always had to be aware of money, we did not have the 
perfect house, and we knew that no one was going to save us.
 We 
were rich in love, laughter and support, we learned how to work for what
 we needed and wanted, we did not make our lives about material 
possessions or worry about what others thought of what we did or did not
 have, and we all learned by our mother’s example that sometimes making 
the difficult decision is the only way to be free and the struggle if 
often well worth the reward.
 Our mother put her children first, 
her career second, and her romantic relationship was private and not 
part of our daily lives.
Our mother had a successful career and none of us have “mommy” 
issues, her grandchildren and great grandchild think she is awesome, and
 our mother is still the cheerful and optimistic flirt she has always 
been.
Being happy and self confident is inevitable when you are blessed 
with a Mother who loves you unconditionally, without judgment, and 
supports and encourages you every step of the way…I would not trade my 
family or the way I grew up with anyone in the world.
Our story would have been much darker and depressing had our parents 
stayed married, and our family would be the very definition of 
dysfunctional.
Divorce saved us, all of us.
Originally published on HubPages ~ October 2011