My Parents Divorce: Living Life Under Water

To begin the semester, we read a "Tuff Stuff" story about a young girl bullied and abused by her first boyfriend.  Mr. Lewenstein asked us to think about the causes and effects associated with this type of experience.  We all thought back to a challenge in our lives that we had to confront. The following is part of my own personal "Tuff-Stuff" essay. 

      The sudden news of my parents divorce shocked and confused me . I just didn't see it coming.  They never really argued or fought in front of us.  I thought we were one big, happy family.  I didn't know how to handle it.  Nothing in my life had prepared me for the deciding which parent to live with.  Everything I thought I knew turned out to be a lie.  For weeks, none of my brothers or sisters would even talk about it.  I mean, the more we thought about it, the more distant we became.  I remember eating dinner together like we always did, but no one would say a thing.  We ate in total silence.  It's like our house was underwater.  A sadness just drowned us out. When I look back now, I realize I must have been very naive to think I lived in the perfect family.  Statistics say 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. But, that doesn't make me feel any better.