It hadn't quite settled in yet, but I knew that this was going to be the most difficult thing I had to face in my entire life. We were the perfect family - always laughing and smiling, wonderful dinners always cooked to perfection, the mere comfort of knowing that everything would be taken care of - and the fact that my parents were getting divorced just didn't seem to make much sense in my wonderful life. There would be no more laughter throughout the household, but rather yelling and fighting that would leave an impact on me for a long time to come.
As I started my years of high school, it was very difficult for me to focus on my schoolwork. Just knowing that I would have to come home to a situation in which I would possibly have to choose sides in another one of my parents" fights was enough to ruin my entire day. While it did take quite some time to adjust, I realized that I would just have to accept the fact that this is how life would be for a while.
All of a sudden I had to fend for myself in many areas that I had never even attempted to do before. It used to be the bright, warm smile of my mother waking me up in the mornings, but now it was just the dull buzzing of an alarm clock. This alarm clock, as simple as it is, made me realize that I would have to start taking responsibilities that I could have never imagined having to do. While the chores of cooking dinner, vacuuming, washing the dishes, or even doing laundry were not what I wanted to do, they were taken care to the best of my abilities.
As all of these new responsibilities became a daily, integrated part of my life, the school workload just seemed to be getting heavier and harder. Always confident that I can accomplish any task that I put my mind to, I knew that I would eventually be able to balance my chores and my schoolwork appropriately. Once this was accomplished, I was able to incorporate jobs, which enabled me to attain valuable people skills, and still fit a social life into my daily routine.