My parents announced they were splitting up at the end of my freshman year of high school. It wasn't unexpected, at that point, because my mom had kicked my dad out, they tried to work things out, ended up not working, and that was that. Due to the circumstances of the divorce, I, like my older brother, who was 18 at the time, sided with my mom.

That was a rough period of life, for both myself and the rest of my family. We had to navigate this change that nothing can prepare you for.

That's where I am, again, right now, the day after I broke up with my first boyfriend.

I don't know where to look or how to feel, losing someone so well embedded in my life, whom I cared about significantly, yet I knowingly, intentionally, severed ties with.

At the same time, I know that there's a light at the end of this new loneliness I didn't know I would feel.

My mom found love again, even after an ending to a 20 year marriage that brought her two kids, moved her to a new state, and shaped her life for the entirety of mine. She found love in someone who pushes her to be more adventurous and with whom she travels.

My mom and her fiancé found love, real love, even though they're full fledged adults, talking about retiring within the next year or two.

Despite this hard change I brought on myself, I know that someday, somehow, I will find someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Hopefully it's sooner, rather than later, but my mom gives me hope.

Happy anniversary, Mom and Scott. I love you.