November 16, 2014
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My Parents' Divorce
I was 10 when my mom and dad divorced. My brother was 7. I remember that we were on our way to Vacation Bible school at a nearby church when dad called us to the lliving room where he was sitting on the couch and told us to sit down. He told us with tears in his eyes that he was going to go live somewhere else for awhile. We went on to VBS. Afterwards I got my brother and we ran home. Dad was gone. Mother was vacuuming. I asked her "Are you going to get a divorce?" She answered yes, and I went in the bedroom, shut the door and cried.
After that my father would come to get us every Saturday morning, and take us fun places like Griffith Park Zoo, the airport to watch the planes, Point Fermin in San Pedro to climb on the rocks and find sea anemones, or the docks to watch the ships. If we went to an aquarium he read every word of every sign to us. He would have been a great home-schooling dad. Same thing at the zoo. A couple of times he took us to Mount Palomar to the Observatory. Once he took us to see the Ramona Play. I think it was in Hemet in a natural ampitheatre, but I don't remember for sure. Sometimes we stayed in town and went to Recreation Park. Mostly though, we went to the beach. All things that we probably would have hardly ever done if they had not separated.
The only problem we could see was that Daddy was always late. We waited hours and hours for him to show up. His friends used to tease him, saying he would be late to his own funeral. (He wasn't, we saw to that.) After a year or so. he started picking us up on Sundays too and taking us to Sunday School and church, and then to dinner at the house where he lived. He lived with a family from church, and Mrs. Albright always cooked a big Sunday meal. I remember fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and pie. We must have had veggies too, but being a kid, I didn't like them, so I have no memory of what they were.
There were lots of sad things about the divorce, but weekends with Dad were good.
Comments (17)
Divorce is such a painful experience for a child. My own husband still has some hurt from his Mom leaving the family when he was a young teen. I'm glad your Dad gave you good weekends, he sounds like he was a wonderful Dad, even if he was late!
Your dad must have been a really good father. So often a divorce means the father loses touch with his kids. That he was able to stay close to you was wonderful!
Yes, it was wonderful, even though the divorce was sad.
I was going to say the same thing, Gracia ... it sounds like your daddy really cared about spending time with you, where so often you see how children are literally forgotten by their fathers. Seems like it's happening more and more these days ... divorce is very sad and I know how it must grieve the heart of God. Thanks for sharing your story ... my parents divorced when I was 7. We were able to spend a little time with him but my daddy died a year later, so I never really got to know him. I do remember that he was a kind man. So glad to hear that you were able to make those special memories with your daddy!
I'm so glad you have such wonderful memories of times with your dad. It sounds as if you saw all the wonderful sights of the Los Angeles area, one by one! That aquarium began to slide off the cliff and was closed -- it's now been turned into a Trump hotel! And the Ramona play was in a little town called, what else, Ramona, just south of Hemet. You have a great memory!
The divorce is almost everywhere nowadays and sometimes a complete family becomes weird!!!! You have been Lucky to have a father so caring with his children. He tried to make you forget the tear.
Love
Michel
I think your Dad made the best of a bad situation. So sad though. Divorce hurts everyone...
special memories of your dad ~ bless you ~
Agree with the others. I may have missed it, but did they tell you why they divorce?
Divorce hurts children most of the time no matter how well it is handled. Sorry it happened to you.
I know why they divorced, but would rather not say now. Almost 60 years later, they re-united in a way, but that's another story.
I'm sorry you had to go through the divorce of your parents, but it sounds like it became an opportunity for your father to spend some great times with you. I hope my kids have such fond memories of me when they get older. Being Dad (or Mom) is tough work but rewarding.
I have tears in my eyes. What an ache for little children to bear. Did they remarry? I am glad that you had such a loving father. Was your mother as caring and loving?
My mother was more distant, especially when I was a teenager, as she was busy finishing college, working and had a boyfriend. My grandmother (her mother) lived with us and was warm and caring. I don't know where would would be if it hadn't been for her.
Mother and Dad never re-married because by the time they became friends again, he was 90 and in the nursing home with Alzheimers and Parkinson symptoms. She was 88 and still living next door to us. He talked about marrying her again one time and we told him that he was too old, and we were just glad they were good friends again. We really just didn't want to have to redo the family trusts. He died 2 years later, but Mother went to see him almost every day. Of course, I did too.
sad but good memories
Hey, thanks for sharing the video about the pencils. That’s quite a process.
I still wonder who ever thought of it… how it ever came to be.
I’m always fascinated with how machines can do all those intricate things too.
There are a lot of sad things about divorce.
Sometimes I think parents could try a little harder to be happy together but other times it can be more damaging to stay together. No easy solutions. God helps us though. I'm glad for those like you who still see their other parent. Some don't. 
Funny about the mushrooms in Africa. Maybe I should sit out in the woods with a flashlight!
My grand-daughter has never ever seen her dad, and he lives within 10 miles. He saw her and her mom once in a restaurant and walked right by them. She was little so of course had no idea who he was. He left when he found out our daughter was pregnant. so she finally divorced him.