He grew up seeing his dad throw punches at his mum until she bled, and he thought that was the way of life. One day, he ran to the room to break the news of his admission into a high school to his parents, but he met them in the most embarrassing state he could never have imagined would happen in his life. They were fighting again. This time, there were about three guys who were passers by trying to separate dad from the gnawing teeth of his mum. They really would’ve killed each other if those men had not intervened.
He was too young to understand what was happening, but he grew up so fast, faster than he should. He was just 10 years old when all this happened. The last one that happened made them decide to permanently separate from each other before a crime gets committed. He was just learning about life. He didn’t even grow up with them. He just newly moved in with them to get acquainted with his parents and then this happened.
He learnt about coparenting at a very young age, so he had thought he was about to experience it firsthand, but his mum left without looking back. He asked a lot of questions when it happened, the most important being, why did it happen? How will he cope with his siblings moving forward? What will the people say? How would he walk in the street? How does he even navigate life as a boy from a divorced home?
At the short run, it was tough. People talked and pointed fingers. He grew up in a small village where almost everyone in the community knew one another, so, news of both bad and good happenings spread like wildfire. Everything got a bit better when he moved to the hostel of his high school the same year it happened.
He admired the life of other kids that had both their parents visit on their visiting day. One day, his dad got called to school because his son had beaten up a girl from his class because he called him ‘motherless’. He thought that was the best way he could’ve taught her to respect him and watch what she says to him. He turned out aggressive to everyone and was always ready to fight. That was what he saw his dad do to his mum, and that’s the way of life, so he thought.
His dad tried though. He lived most of his life with him, and he learnt everything about life from him, but how to live with a woman. He is all grown now, and he can talk to his dad. He asked his dad one day why everything happened the way it did, and he got answers.
“Love is not enough. I didn’t learn this early enough, but I did later after your mum had left. Respect plays an important role in a flourishing home, even though it was the fault of both of us, we could’ve settled it amicably and find a way to live with each other, but we let our ego get in the way. Also, I allowed my family members to have too much influence on my family. I didn’t stand up to them in support of my wife when I should, rather, I chose to listen to them and allowed them to ruin the little happiness that was in our home”. But yours could be better. A boy from a broken home can have a happy family, his dad said.
He has a girl he wants to talk to now, but the first question threw him off his feet. “Are your parents together?” she had asked him. She mentioned that she never likes men from a divorced home because of the bitter experience she had with a bitter man raised in a divorced home.
He said to her, even though I am from a broken home, I don’t intend to make my kids suffer the same fate I suffered. That’s why I have learnt from the mistakes of my parents and tried to make myself into a refined young man who will protect his wife, and children from the many forces that may want to affect my home. Even though I am from a divorced home, my dad had done well to raise me well and make me a good husband and father. So, you have nothing to fear. He said to her
The boy from a divorced home is now happily married to the woman who was scared of marrying him because of his background.
This is my entry to the #Aprilinleoprompt challenge with a focus on “Wedding, Divorce and Single by choice”.
Image was designed on Canva.