Dear Elli,
Today, we celebrated my parents' birthdays. Their birthdays are only four days apart, so we celebrated both of them tonight. Grandpa Gordon turned 65, and Nanny turned 64.
That's cool, right? It's pretty freaking cool that we get to celebrate both of my parents' birthdays at the same time. Now let me tell you what makes tonight's celebration truly extraordinary:
My parents have been divorced for 28 years. The last time they celebrated their birthdays as a married couple, I was in kindergarten.
You have no concept of just how amazing our family truly is. How awesome we, with all of our blended elements, fit together. You have seven grandparents resulting from various past and present relationships on both sides of your family. And they all get along famously. You've never known anything different. And I hope you never do.
Society would say that I come from a broken home. My parents divorced when I was a young child. I have step parents. I should be damaged. Maybe broken. With trust issues. Insecurities. I should be a mess, right?
Not even close. I have the best parents on the planet. I don't remember a single instance of either of them bad mouthing the other in my presence. I do, however, vividly remember them working together to do the best freaking job in the world to raise me, under less than ideal conditions.
My parents are amazing people. They were high school sweethearts. They were married for seventeen years. They made me. And they loved each other tremendously.
They had fantastic times, and they also went through hell. Together. And to them, that means something.
In the end, their marriage didn't make it. They both moved on to other relationships. As shitty as it may be, not all marriages make it. But my parents respect one another. And, even though their marriage ended, their fondness for one another never did. They are amazing people.
So, tonight we all celebrated together. I watched them smile and laugh. I listened to them reminisce about the old days. They were happy. And they made me feel happy, too. I'm really freaking proud of them both, and I'm even more proud to be their kid.
I'm lucky. And you're lucky, too. Without my amazing parents, neither of us would exist.
I love you.
Mom
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