My parents divorced when I was 13 years old. At first, my life became split by the two. It became a juggle of making everybody happy at the same time. Sometimes, that was asking and doing the impossible. Now I wouldn’t ask to have anything different. Here are some things every child who has divorced parents can agree on.

Holidays are a hassle.

Everybody always thinks that having divorced parents means double the presents. What it really means, is having to split one day evenly between two separate families. It seems like as soon as you are comfortable and having fun with one set of parents, you have to leave to be with the other. Holidays aren’t relaxing. It becomes a balancing act.

Having to hear one parent complain about the other.

We get it. You don’t think the other parent is pulling their weight. But can we please talk about the A we got on the paper we worked our butts off on? Or can we talk about sports? Anything but the complaining.

Making sure you spend the same amount of time with both of them.

You become the master of the balancing act. You balance the amount of meals and phone calls you have with each parent. Not to mention you have to balance your social life and school along with your life with your parents.

You get double the love.

Both of my parents moved on. I love my step parents and my step siblings. I wouldn’t have asked to have it any other way. Oddly enough, my step sister on my Dad’s side goes on vacation with my mom and me. Now that isn’t normal for every family, but I love it.

Sometimes you become closer to your parents.

I have certain things I do with each parent. With Dad, I bowl, shoot bows, and can talk about sports for hours. I bake, watch movies, and binge a new TV series with my Mom. I love being able to connect with my parents in a different ways.

Now I know my family’s story is different than others. I’m lucky that my parents get along even if they do it for my sake. Even though my parents have been split for almost ten years, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love my big, perfectly imperfect family tree even through all of the chaos.