Being brought up by divorced parents, well, technically my Dad did most of the work. My Mom’s place was more of a vacation house. Although I could come up with more downsides than upsides, but hey, Churchill used to say ‘a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty’. Of course the first few months were difficult, how could I ever get used to not seeing my Mom when she has been making my sunny side up and iron my clothes, now I’m lucky enough if my sunny side ups look like one. But months grew into years and living with my Dad wasn’t so bad after all, as a matter of fact, it was a lot easier.

1.  Double of everything
   

I’ve always been the kind who never really looked forward to my birthday; the presents I’ve gotten were always, me. After the divorce, though, my birthday presents got even more exciting. When I was 17, The Arctic Monkeys came to town and it would be crazy not to miss them, but at the same time I was saving money for a new Ibanez. To my amazement, my Dad got me a sleek, blue Ibanez Gio guitar and good ol’ Mom gave me more than enough money for the concert ticket. Life couldn’t get any better.

2.  Divorce perks
   

I used to live in a small town and rumors spread like wildfire, you know how a small town works. When the news about my parents’ divorce were known by pretty much everyone, the townspeople kept asking me if I was doing okay and always offering food and advices. I’ve always hated that look of sympathy they always have in their eyes until one day, my best friend asked if I wanted to skip class to go for a smoke and I said yes. So when we were almost on our way out, the principal saw us and brought us to his office. He knew about the divorce and easily let us loose, and he even gave me some money to get some chocolate milkshake because "chocolate milkshakes make everything better." Or so he said. Little did he know that I was lactose intolerant.

3.  Guilty gifts
   

Divorced parents often times feel guilty for putting their child (ren) through such a hard time. There was this unfortunate day, I was having my monthly scheduled PMS- I was a sour puss to everyone and my Mom must have noticed. She wasn’t one to talk things through over a cup of tea so she just gave me a hug and an envelope with a large sum of money for a 17 year old teenage girl, my PMS went away in an instance.

4.  Grow up faster
   

In a different perspective, a child having to grow up faster isn’t much of a good thing. But I think otherwise, my parent’s divorce has helped me through a lot. I learned that just because you see one thing as a whole doesn’t mean it can’t break into little pieces. The world doesn’t have enough ‘happy endings’ for everyone, but in the end, they will end up okay. I learned how to forgive and when to let go, so thank you for divorcing, Mom and Dad.

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