Dear Mom and Dad,

You have been divorced since I was 2 years old, and I'm not going to lie, it hasn't been a perfect life. Almost all of my friends' parents are still together, and I haven't, nor will I ever, know what it's like to have happily married parents. I can't tell people what it's like to sit down with my parents and have dinner, or open presents together on Christmas. What I can tell them, however, is what it's like to have two homes to live in, two bedrooms, two lives. Ever since you divorced, you both had to pick me and my brothers up from each of your houses constantly. You know what the drill was; two days with mom, two days with dad, five days with mom, five days with dad, repeat. That was never fun. You probably remember the six-year-old me crying at the door not wanting to leave whichever house I was at because I didn't want to keep going back and forth. I didn't want two of everything. I always asked you why you couldn't still be married. Why didn't you two love each other? I didn't understand back then, but I do now.

What I didn't know back then was that dad, you sent letters to mom, ones filled with hate and insecurity. Letters saying you wouldn't come to my wedding if mom was going to be there. Letters blaming mom for the end of your marriage, saying it was her fault and that all you wanted was to be with her. I was young back then and didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. My whole life I've been a child of your divorce; I don't remember the two years of my life when you were married. Being a young adult now, I understand. Dad, just because you said you never wanted the marriage to end, doesn't mean it would have worked out. Mom wasn't happy, you two were just too incompatible for each other. Why would you stay in a marriage with three kids if it wasn't a happy one? It is believed that people should stay married for the sake of their kids and income, but at what cost? Dad, you may have loved mom, and I know she loved you at one point, but relationships end, and I know the end of yours was for the better.

After all the silent fighting between you two, the hatred, the blame, the demand for child support, I have learned and I have grown. I have learned that mom, you're the most supportive woman I know. You have gone to every single one of my dance recitals, all my school concerts, my Destination Imagination tournaments, my elementary, middle, and high school graduations, and I cannot thank you enough for it. You have stood tall, worked hard after the divorce to raise me better yourself than any married mom could. Dad wasn't always the most supportive parent, so you took on that role to be the best parent you could be. You knew that dad's absence at the important points in my life brought me down, and you were always there to pick me back up, each time higher than the previous.

I'd be lying if I said I'm not skeptical to relationships after seeing yours fall apart. If my own parent's marriage didn't work out, how can mine? After seeing the pain and struggle that divorce brings, how could I put that through my future children? I have thought a lot about this, and I have come up with a good mindset on that fact. I am not you guys. Just because your marriage didn't work out, doesn't mean mine won't. I know what it's like to see divorce, to feel it. As I grow older, I will be in relationships, and I'll know if ones won't work out. I'm not going to doubt love just because I'm scared of divorce. If I go into relationships believing they'll end, I'll never be happy.

So, mom and dad, I just want to say one thing. Thank you for being my parents. Nobody has a perfect life, but you have done the best you can to make my life pretty damn special. You have loved me unconditionally, and you disagreed on almost everything, but the one thing you shared that mattered most was the love for your child.

I love you both so much, and not even your divorce can change that.

Love, your daughter