When I was younger I forced
To choose a side in the divorce
But though they felt sympathy
And “understood” instantly
They never felt any remorse

This is a poem about my life as a young boy around the age of five. I was never allowed to do much in my younger childhood. I guess you could say I had strict parents with stricter limitations. So when my parents announced they were separating from each other, it came as a pretty big hit to me and my younger brother. A week or so after my parents had gotten the papers filed, they came to me and told me to decide which parents I wanted to live with. I was young enough that they could have talked between themselves and figured it out. But they wanted me to have a say in the matter. My young mind raced at the question. They were telling me to pick favorites. I wasn’t about to just denounce one parent and not the other. After a while of thinking, I decided. My father said in a depressed “Alright son, if that is how you really feel.” And my mother started to cry. At that moment I thought I had made the wrong choice. Now I looked back and thought it was very smart of a thing to say. I answered with “Both.”

In turn that made the divorce better. I was able to switch between the houses and see both of my parents. Looking back now, I understand why they broke up the marriage. It wasn’t working between either of them. It wouldn’t have worked if they had stayed together. So now both of them have a person that is special in their life. Excluding me.