When I was about 6, my parents came to us and told us they were getting divorced. It was devastating news, or at least I assumed it was while watching my brother and sister’s reactions to the news. I was far too young to understand more than “Daddy is moving out”. But my brother and my sister seemed to know better.

My Dad moved out and we got to see him 1 weekday a week and every other weekend. This was fine by me, he was never home much when he lived with us anyway! But then I got older. And I missed my Dad. And I lived with my mom and as far as I was concerned, she couldn’t do anything right. I always wanted to run to Dad because he was the FUN one. He was the one we hung out with and had popcorn and watched movies. Mom was the one who disciplined us and grounded us and made us do chores. I thought if I could go live with my Dad, that we would just have fun all the time.

Eventually, my mom learned about Rainbows. She MADE us go. I didn’t want to. I was embarrassed that my Mom and Dad were no longer together. I felt ashamed that my Dad didn’t live with us. Everyone else’s parent were living happily together. Or at least that is what I thought. So I went to Rainbows. Every week. Our facilitators were wonderful. They made me feel so welcome and so safe. They encouraged me to talk about things I wasn’t so sure I was comfortable talking about. Most importantly, though, I connected with other people in similar situations as me. I discovered that I was not the only kid in school who didn’t live with their Dad. I was no longer alone.

Throughout my Rainbows experience I learned that my parents would be there for me, no matter what. They loved me and that didn’t change with a divorce. I also learned that there were other people I could lean on for support. My teachers, my other Rainbows kids, my siblings. The greatest thing I learned, by far, was that my parents still loved each other. They made such an effort to make us kids feel good and loved. They worked together in raising us. The love they had for one another was a different kind of love, but a love none the less. Both my mom and dad came to every Rainbows function they were invited to. I think they learned how to be our parents instead of husband and wife with great help from Rainbows.

Eventually we moved, and I no longer participated in Rainbows. Although I was only involved in Rainbows for a few short years, I learned a lot. My father passed away 3 years ago and I feel like I was able to get as much out of my relationship with him as possible. We were so close and I thank Rainbows for giving me an opportunity to be a well adjusted child of divorce. I am now 26 years old. I am engaged to be married in October of this year and couldn’t be happier. I have an amazing 1 year old daughter and own a small business. I absolutely love my life and I thank Rainbows for helping me get here.