When I was between two and three years old, right after my sister was born, my mom and dad decided to file for divorce. But, before you stop reading, thinking this is just another story of the hardships endured by a child with divorced parents, you should know that my story is different than most.

I was lucky. Not only did I have, and still do have, a mom and dad who care for me endlessly, but I was also gifted with two other wonderful women who love me like their own. However, both parents remarrying women was not something I could have ever expected or prepared for. Of course, I assumed that at some point each of my parents would find love elsewhere, I just didn't think it would happen as quickly as it did, nor did I think I would end up with two step-moms.

While growing up, having four people watching over me meant I had a support system that was twice as strong, but it also meant I had twice as many people telling me what to do. Two sets of parents meant two houses, and two houses meant two different sets of rules, which could be incredibly hard to keep track of, especially at a young age.

My parents also decided on split custody, so my sister and I were at each house half of the time. Switching between houses on a daily basis sometimes was hard enough as a younger kid, and then my dad moved to Northeast Philly. That said, the two houses I was co-existing in were now a half an hour drive away from each other. After this move, I continued to go to elementary and middle school at the same place, so half of the time when I was with my dad I had a much longer commute. I had to get up earlier and couldn't see my friends nearly as often as I would have liked.

Eventually my dad moved back to the suburbs where we are originally from, which made things exponentially easier. When I turned 14, I got to choose which house I lived at primarily, and I was to see the other parent every other weekend. A pretty big decision for a girl who is just barely a teenager to make, right?

Up until this point I had spent relatively equal amounts of time with each family, so I beat myself up about this decision for a long, long time. How was I supposed to choose which parent I wanted to live with the majority of the time without offending anyone or hurting any feelings?

I eventually chose living with my mom and her girlfriend at the time (now wife, as of a few years ago!), who had been present almost since before I could walk and talk. I based my decision logically on the fact that I wanted to live closer to my school and my friends, but to this day I still feel guilty sometimes about having to essentially pick one parent over the other.

Obviously, I did not have the easiest upbringing, but it wasn't all bad by any stretch of the imagination. My dad has been married to his wife Michelle for eleven years now, and my mom has been with Dawn for around fifteen. So, for most of my life, I am fortunate enough to have been surrounded by these four wonderful parental figures who love me more fiercely than I could even begin to imagine. I may have been subjected to astronomical amounts of estrogen over the years with all the women in my life, but hey, is that really a bad thing?

Even though I had four different people telling me what to do, I was brought up in two safe, open, and loving households. Sure, four parents, three women, and two houses made my life crazy, but I've become, and am still growing into, the amazing young woman that both of my families raised me to be.