The Fraction of 1/2


I am part of a statistic.
I, like 50% of America, have divorced parents.

The fraction 1/2 (ew, math) has never occurred to me in the slightest to be any sort of definition. How can a number define a person? When I think of 1/2, I think of the perfect incision made into a cake, halfway down the center, about to be allotted to a crazy group of kids at a birthday party. When I think of 1/2, I think of the effortless yet flawless combination of sweet tea and lemonade that go into an Arnold Palmer. When I think of 1/2, I certainly don't think about divorce.

Not until about a year ago.
             
           Similarly to 9/11, when something BIG happens, when something that is going to change your life happens, you remember exactly what you were doing. When my parents originally split, my dad described the situation as an image. I remember when he took out a piece of paper, drew two circles overlapped, similar to a venn-diagram, and explained that this is how married people are. They are happy, they are connected, they share a same love. Then, he drew two circles distanced apart. Then another two, even further apart. He said that over the years, people who are divorced find themselves losing touch with their 'other circle'. Already in tears, I continued to bawl as the explanation seemed almost too simple. How can he look at me and tell me that my family's destruction was because of a geometry lesson?
            I never imagined that I would be living the life of someone missing a 'half'. Someone yesterday, when I told them that my parents were divorced and that my dad lives in New Jersey, referred to me as "missing a half". Is that what I am? Because I only live with one parent that makes me impaired- handicapped? Something that this person, actually a good friend of mine, had said nonchalantly, made me rethink everything. That's why I'm blogging about divorce. Not for sympathy, not to be a sap story, but because you never know what someone is going to say to you and how it will affect you.
Does my parents being divorced make me at a disadvantage? Because my parents aren't seen on Friday night dates make my family 'weird'? When they got divorced, I was asking myself these questions. Hands down- the hardest part about it was.... (insert cliche about my siblings having to go through it). No. Not at all. Selfishly, the hardest part was seeing my friends' parents go out on group outings together, one big happy family of DATES. Something my parents hadn't been on in years. Honestly, it made me sad to think that my parents were missing out on one of the biggest joys in life- having that best friend, that companion, to guide you through any hardships.
          But I guess the emotion that I'm trying to fit into this box is more complex than happy or sad. I think that I am hopeful, hopeful that divorce can be seen in a positive light. I know, that seems impossible, but think about it: maybe life gets better from there. That's what my dad tells me every time I talk to him about it. And even if he is some heartless "drug lord" (Thanks Jake), I like to think he knows something about what's going on.