The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

MIA CONNELLY
SARA DEOREO, TEACHER
Proctor Elementary School, Topsfield, MA
Before I was born, my mom, my dad, and my grandparents went to court.
They had to go because my parents had a bad drinking problem, did lots of
drugs, and fought with each other a lot. The judge didn’t think that my parents
would care for me, so when I was born, my grandparents would have full
custody of me.
Later on, my sister had a birthday that was coming up on New Year’s, and we
made a plan to go stay with my dad at a hotel for the night. In those moments,
I actually don’t really know what happened. But my mom is bipolar, and my
mom hit Dad, and they got into a gigantic fight. My mom called the cops on
him, but he did not get arrested, and he almost did not go with us. My sister
and I called my mom. When she answered, she screamed at us so loudly, like
she was crazy, and then hung up. We started bawling our eyes out and crying
so hard. It was the worst feeling ever.
After my sister and I tried calling our mom back many times, she finally
answered. My sister said to my mom that she was ruining her birthday by
physically abusing my dad. Then my mom swore and cursed at us, and it
sounded like my mom slammed her phone against something and broke her
phone into pieces. She screamed at the top of her lungs that we were horrible
daughters, she hated us, and she didn’t care about my sister’s birthday. The
worst feeling ever. After that, she finally called us back and said she was very,
very sorry. At first, I didn’t accept her apology.
My parents fight a lot. My dad lives with my mom in her apartment, and he
doesn’t like to stay there because he sometimes gets scared of my mom. He is
also scared that he might have to live on the streets and call the cops on my
mom if she keeps doing what she’s doing. At first, I really didn’t have enough
courage to accept that my parents had problems, and I think that they
sometimes don’t love me. I sometimes ask myself, Why can’t I have normal
parents? because it makes me so sad to think about it. Almost everyone I know
lives with their parents, not their grandparents.
“...I SHOWED THEM
I HAD COURAGE
TO FINALLY ACCEPT
THEIR APOLOGY.”
My dad went to jail many times, and I don’t know if I should be infuriated or
disappointed. He says he is sorry a lot to try to make me feel better. I didn’t
accept his apologies at first, either. My grandparents always tell them to get
some help.
My sister and I tried our best to help them, and we all finally convinced them
to move into a sober living house. My dad promised me that he would get
better and be the best he could be. They went into the sober living house for
a long time. Since my dad had finally gotten better and was finally out of jail,
we decided that we were going to stay at a hotel in Lowell for New Year’s to
celebrate my sister’s birthday. We stayed in a really fancy hotel, ate lots of
snacks, and brought our VR headset with us so he could play on it.
My dad would text me telling me how much he missed me and loved me every
day after that hotel night, and my mom has gotten better too. After that night
at the hotel with my sister and my dad, my dad showed me he had the courage
to get better, and my mom showed me she had the courage to get better, so I
showed them I had courage to finally accept their apology.
I still sometimes can’t accept the fact that they still have some problems, and if
they do things like doing drugs too much and drinking too much alcohol, soon
enough, they could pass away. It makes me so sad to think about that. Since my
parents cause trouble, they have done some stuff to cause them to go to jail.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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