As a child, I grew up on Disney movies, cliche right? I listened to some soundtracks on repeat for weeks and watched the films habitually for days on end. I fully believed the world was just as it seemed in all of the movies that I had watched because I had grown up rather sheltered and was naive to anything different. Now, in all the films that you will watch that are Disney movies are not "perfect" by any means. All of the films follow a general plot and there is something negative in the big picture, but it is never family. Every once in awhile you will come across one of the films where the main character has lost one of their family members or maybe even both but they never just have a MIA parent.
For me, my parents are happily married and have done everything to support me and drive me to accomplish at my greatest ability, but I didn't know that was a privilege. When I came to college I started to discover that a lot of the people that I found so dear to me had one of their parents constantly disappointing them and letting them down by simply just not being a parent. The thought even still boggles me. However, when I really think about it in depth it just makes my heart ache. I look at my parents and see they are tired often. They get worn out too and sometimes I am sure they think the have failed too but they have never given up on me and that is what parents are supposed to do. Being a parent is a lifelong job and it is tiring and a lot of giving no matter how exhausted you may be but that is just how it is. Instead of living just your separate life you are living for someone else because no matter how big those tiny baby feet grow to be, you are still always a parent. Even when you are 20 years old and living hours away from your parents and doing what seems like living on your own you still call your mom and ask her how to fix the stain in your shirt you have no clue how you got and get excited about the A on your test and call to brag on yourself to get the "Good Job" you feel you earned. Your parents are not supposed to be the ones in your life that let you down from the very start and hurt you.
So, here's what I have to say to those kids that get the short end of the stick:
I am sorry.
No, it might not be any solace and it might not make up for the pain that you carry every day on your shoulders or the hole in your heart that burdens you in relationships but I want you to know that some of us understand. It is NOT your fault that your parent fails at simply doing their God-given job of being a parent. However, that does not mean that you cannot do or have better. You just as much as anyone deserves to be happy and have someone who loves you and won't disappoint you, but you have to let them.
