Movies and the media have a tendency to portray love and marriage as a forever thing, but unfortunately that is not always the case.

My parents met in the city of Boston about thirty years ago. As the polar opposites they are, they attracted toward each other. A few years upon meeting, they were married, had a house together, and then became pregnant with my older brother. About six years later they made the greatest decision ever and created me. They were not a whirlwind romance. They were not a cheesy fairy-tale that people gawked at. They were two smart business people who fell for each other and decided to start a life together.

When I was about 5 years old, the polar opposite attraction that was once so steamy began to fade. Their differences began to eat away at them and their relationship and instead of letting it ruin the loving family they created they made the hardest decision in order to benefit the future lives of my brother and I.

They divorced. Yes, the big scary D word.

Although I took the divorce hard as a kid, my parents made me realize everything was going to be okay and the divorce actually made for a healthier family. To this day, my parents remain the best of friends. We are still a family. We chose love over hate and recognized the fact we still needed to stick together in order to get through this mad world.

My parents, and millions of other parents out there have needed to hunker down and talk about the big scary D word. Love never ends nor dies, sometimes people just grow apart. My parents have done everything in their power to give my brother and I the best lives possible, and I bet yours have as well. If you are a product of divorce like myself, do not ever let it get in the way of the love inside of your family. Do not let divorce tear your family a part. Do not let hate trump love. Love yourselves and love each other, because the only people who will truly have your back for your whole life is your family and I have had to learn that the hard way on more than one occasion.

Divorce has the stereotype of being a horrible decision made by parents but I am here to shed light on the positives of divorce. Yes, I have two houses and two bedrooms, only being about five minutes away from each other. Yes, when one parent annoys me I can go to the other, but my parents will always stand together and have each others backs because they know that is how co-parenting successfully works. I am the luckiest child in the world to have two parents who love and support their kids so much.

I applaud their decision making all those years ago, because if not for that my life would not be what it is today, nor would my brother's. I believe the most important part of my family's story is the remainder of respect and friendship. Respect will make decisions together easier and will make for the most successful co-parenting. Friendship lasts forever and holds the key to keeping our family strong and keeping our family together.

At only 20 years old, the concept of marriage is very, very far away from my life now. I hope one day when I start a family of my own that there will be the same amount of love, respect and friendship that my parents embedded into our family. Obviously I hope that divorce is not in my future, but I know, thanks to my parents, that whatever comes my way in life I will make the best decision I can in order to keep my family together and united.

If you are a child of divorce, and the thought of falling in love scares you because you are so terrified of falling out of it then you need to realize what my parents helped me realize only recently. Families are stronger together, and strong families are always built on love, respect, and friendship.

Do not let divorce own you or take over you, and never let hate win over love.