3. The Beginning of the End

A vacation with just the four of us was unheard of. Every summer, we would join three other families and rent out a beach house in The Outer Banks for a whole week. We also visited my cousins in California and my grandparents in New York often, so we were never alone with our travels. On the first night of Hanukkah when I was in the fourth grade however, my parents surprised my sister and me with two small gift bags. Those gift bags contained Mickey Mouse ears and a Disney book. It was then that we discovered the incredible news - we were going to Disney World! I was filled with excitement since this was the best Hanukkah present I had ever received, so I didn't even stop to question why the four of us were going on a trip alone.

The trip to Disney World took place two months after my sister and I received the news, and the anticipation seemed to stretch on forever. When we arrived at the hotel, it had two bedrooms. Logically, one would assume that my sister and I would share a bedroom while my parents took the other. However, this trip contradicted from the norm. As my sister and I began unpacking our bags, my father unexpectedly entered our bedroom and offered some excuse for why one of us had to switch rooms. Without questioning it, my sister gathered her belongings and ended up sharing the other bedroom with my mom. Apart from this unusual occurrence, the rest of the trip seemed normal as one would expect for a ten-year-old girl experiencing Disney World.

Upon returning home, I started noticing some changes within our household. Every night, after my sister and I went to bed, my dad would quietly sneak downstairs to spend the night in the guest bedroom located in the basement, instead of sleeping in his bedroom with my mom. Although he thought he was being discreet, I immediately caught on. My dad also started engaging in more frequent and meaningful conversations with me, and he reduced his time at the gym training. During this period, my mom's work schedule also became less demanding, and she was always available to assist my sister and me. However, two other odd events took place. Firstly, my grandparents surprised us with an unexpected visit from New York, staying with us for about a week. Secondly, my dad came home early one afternoon from the office, which was during that same week of my grandparents out of the blue arrival.

I vividly remember that particular afternoon. It was a Friday in the middle of March, and my sister and I had arrived home from school just an hour earlier. As mentioned before, our grandparents were visiting, but they had stepped out to "run errands" at the time. My sister and I were playing a game on our laptop, sitting together at the kitchen table, while my mom was busy preparing dinner—an unusual occurrence. It was still early in the afternoon for my dad to return home from work, but suddenly, we saw his car pulling into the driveway. My mom went to the window to take a look and remarked, "It appears your father came home early today." He entered the house, placed his belongings down, and him and my mom joined my sister and me at the kitchen table. "Could you girls put the laptop away? Your father and I have something important to discuss with you," my mother said. I sensed the gravity of the situation because nothing like this had ever happened before. We shut down the laptop, giving our undivided attention to our parents. Little did I know that in that moment, my life was about to change forever. "Girls, your father and I are getting a divorce," my mother revealed, words that would reshape everything.