Updated Draft of This I Believe

In the society around me today, the people in it make it seem as if parents need to be married for a child to have a good life. I believe that you do not have to be married for your child or children's lives to go well. The so-called studies that doctors have done show or say that children growing up in married homes have a better life. I, as a teen growing up in a single-parent family home would have to disagree.

My mom has never been married a day in her adult life. She is a single mother of three; two teenage girls and a 11-month old baby boy. To me, my life has been going just great. She is always at all of my award ceremonies to cheer me on for doing well in school. She used to be the loudest one in the crowd yelling "WOOOO!!!!!KELLA!!!!". Sometimes it would be a little embarrassing but at least I know she supports me.

Sometimes it does get kind of hard because my father helps very little. I remember us getting evicted from our apartment when I was around the age of 7 or 8. We were low on money and it was getting hard for my mom to pay the rent. She began to cry but tried not to let me and my sister see. We saw anyway and she started to apologize. I never have liked to see my mama cry. I told her to stop crying because we would be okay and we still loved her. We made it through that rough time because my mom held her head high and got back on top.

Just because my father does not reside in the same home as I do does not mean my life is horrible. Sometimes I do get down or sad because he makes it seem as if he does not know I exist. But now I just blow it off because my mother is also my father. She is my rock and always will be. She holds me at times and lets me know that she loves me even if no one else does.

So just because to people are married, does not make the child's life awesome. In order for the child like me to have a good life, I don't need for my parents to be just married, I just need them to be present in my life and show me love and support in any and every way they can. Being married is just an exchange of vows between two people. It does not determine the way the child's life will be. In my naive teenage mind, my mama is married; to herself and her beloved children.