Have you ever went to sleep and woken to a new life, a life that is not your own? You feel as if everything has flipped and it’s not normal. That seems to be how my life has become. It’s somewhat of a dream, or a nightmare rather.

This change all started when my mother walked out on my family. That can be somewhat of a common instance for some families, but to mine, it was different. My mother left my father for my boyfriend’s father. This places all the blame on me for meeting this guy and introducing our parents.

My boyfriend, James, and I had been dating for two and half years at the time of my mother leaving. This was very unfair and tragic to me, being a vulnerable 16 year old girl at the time. I felt abandoned because I was at the stage in my life when I needed my mother most. The worst part of my life now is the fact that the man she left us for doesn’t even want anything to do with her. So it was all for nothing. She hurt my daddy and ruined my sister’s and my childhood. My sister is even younger than me, so I know this is affecting her even more negatively. It’s my senior year right now and my mother is filing for a divorce. She is fighting to get money from my daddy when he barely has enough for me and my sisters.

I don’t think I can ever forgive my mother for how she has treated my daddy. He was left with three teenage girls to raise on his own. My daddy is my hero. He’s the only reason I’m staying strong through all of this. I have had to step up so much and take care of things at the house but I’m glad to do anything to help my daddy. I can’t help but to think that this is shaping me into the young woman my daddy can be proud of. My daddy has shown me that home is really where the heart is. Wherever life takes us, my daddy is my home.