If you asked most people how they think a divorce would affect a child, they would probably tell you bad things. I think this is false however. Good things can come out of a divorce. In fact, I think the divorce of my parents was for the better. Although it was hard at the time, I now realize that it taught me some valuable lessons that helped to shape me into the person I am today.

Now when many people think of divorces, they think of one parent leaving, and kind of being out of the way. That wasn’t the case with my parents divorce. We had a bit of a “special case”. You see, neither of my parents moved out during our divorce. They both lived in the same house, for nine months. My mom lived on the ground floor, while my dad lived in the basement. Sounds crazy, right? Well it was.

Our schedule was fairly simple on the surface. I went Mondays and Wednesdays with my mom, and Tuesdays and Thursdays with my dad, with alternating weekends. If I was with my mom that day, I stayed upstairs. If I was with my dad that day, I would stay down in the basement. Both of them had their ups and downs. Get it? Ups and downs?

Life in the basement wasn’t exactly torture, but it definitely wasn’t what I was used to. My dad and I shared a very small room downstairs, which had my dad’s computer desk, two beds, a shelf, a mini fridge, and a microwave. These things took up almost all of the space in the room, and you often had to climb over the beds to get to something on the other side of the room. Since we had no way to cook any food, we had to either eat out, or eat cereal, microwave meals, or things that were easy to make, like sandwiches. We always had food to eat, it just wasn’t always the highest quality. This now makes me really appreciate when I do have a good quality, home cooked meal. Living down in the basement helped me to appreciate things more, and to value good things when they are given to me.

Throughout the whole divorce, I had to learn to be more independent. Often times, my mom and dad were both busy with work, or other things. I had to learn to fend for myself. Prior to the divorce, I often was overly dependent on my parents to help me, or do things for me. I had to learn to make my own food, and also to make my own schedule. I couldn’t wait around for my dad to tell me to do my homework. I had to take matters into my own hands, and do it for myself. This helped me to become more self sufficient. Had this not happened, I may not have the good work ethic that I do today.