My parents are divorced. Weird to write that sentence. My Mom listed the house for sale and just accepted an offer on the house they built with plans to retire together and spend happily ever after. It's weird, but in a way it's wonderful to see how adaptable we can all be. We forget sometimes what amazing creatures we are. How capable we all are.
My Dad is no longer a part of our lives and honestly, it sucks, but it is what it is. I don't particularly care for the man. I haven't for a very long time, but he is still my Dad. He still taught me how to hike, took us for bike rides during the summer, and was our Daddy. When I started to become an adult and make decisions he didn't care for and he did and said things I didn't care for, it was harder to like him all the time, but I always loved that very difficult man. I will most likely never know his "why." What I do know is that I will do my best every day to never let my daughter know the pain and confusion that my Dad's departure has caused any of us. She doesn't understand where "papa" went and she is too young to even attempt to explain it to. All she knows is that he decided he didn't want to be here anymore and had someplace else to go.
My Mom is amazing and has beautiful, exciting plans for making the rest of her life exactly what she wants it to be on her terms. I love her. We will miss that house, but the memories and the laughs cannot be contained by those walls. Our hearts are the only thing in the world capable of holding those things.
