Definition Of Abandonment

The dictionary gives many different definitions for abandonment. One being, “to give up control of.” When the phrase “I haven’t seen Mom since Monday” started slipping out of my mouth on a Thursday afternoon and “Dad said ten words to me last night before he went to bed” became a regular excuse for not knowing what’s going on, I realized how little control my parents had over my life. They had given up control, for the most part, which the dictionary defines as abandonment. My sophomore year my mom got a second job. She said we needed the money. A few months later, a couple of the supervisors my dad oversaw at work quit without warning. So now, my mom was working five or six days a week, and my dad’s work schedule was unpredictable. Sometimes …show more content…
I very easily could have taken advantage of my parents by partying and sneaking around. However, instead of turning me wild, the situation caused me to become less reliant on my parents and develop a closer relationship with my brother.
My parents were never really the type to micromanage every aspect of my life, but the did what parents do: cook dinner, wash the dishes, do the laundry, vacuum, and dust from time to time. With them working so much, I had to step up and figure out how to juggle all of these household chores on top of school, volleyball, and dance. It was an adjustment at first. After practice, I did not always feel like I had enough time to cook dinner, throw a load of laundry in, and get all of my homework done. I was stressed out already from juggling all of the normal teenager stuff, and now I was adding even more to my plate.
As for my brother and I, we went from screaming at each other every day of freshman year on our way to school, to being best friends. He was my confidant and comforter. It used to be that I would come home every day from school and help my mom cook dinner while rambling about my day, but now I was telling my brother all of my worries while he cooked and I switched the clothes from the washer to the dryer. It gave us the chance to bond over the common stress of not having our parents …show more content…
Whether it is because they both have new jobs, or because they are realizing in a year I will be off at college, I am not sure. I still resent the fact that they have missed out on a lot, and that they have put so much additional stress on me. They have not been here as much as I would have liked. However, I am happy with the way I have turned out. If they had not left me to take care of myself and make my own decisions, I would not be as self sufficient as I am today. If they had not left me with only my brother for company, I would never have grown as close to him as I have. The situation my parents put me in could have gone 100 horrible ways. Instead, it has served as a transformative experience for me, turning me into the level-headed, young adult I am