So, when I hear this question, for some reason I just think about my childhood. And I guess it's pertinent to say that I come from a family of divorce - I don't know if that's the right way to phrase it? - my parents are divorced. My parents divorced when I was really young, like younger than I can really remember them being together. And so, I actually only have one memory of my parents being together - which is when I was like... God I must've been like four, or younger. The only parts of it I remember are, I was in my house, and it was nap-time, and I never liked naps. It was nap-time and I looked out my back window and my parents were doing yard work. And then, my mom found a bunny that had hidden in the garden, or something. She picked up the bunny, and since I was watching them I ran down and they were like 'it's fine that you're awake, this bunny is clearly more important than nap time.' So we pet the bunny for awhile, and then my mom let it go. For a long time I thought maybe that was a dream, and not a real memory, but it was just a recurring dream. But then one day I asked my mom and she said no we did find a bunny in the backyard once. She couldn't remember the details, but she remembered it, so I thought it must be true since my mom confirmed it separately.
I guess my parents later divorced, but they were always amicable, which isn't always the case, I know, because my dad was remarried, and I had two step-brothers. One day I came downstairs, and I saw my stepmom and the kitchen table and she was just crying. And, I was like "my God, are you okay?" - all the regular stuff you ask. My step-brothers' dad, he was a bad guy. He got restraining orders against her for the kids. Like, imagine if one day you went to pick up your kids and you were told no because there was a restraining order against you, you can't pick them up. She's a regular suburban mom, there's no reason for that. He was just a bad guy. So she was just crying because of all the things the boys' dad had done at that point, because he'd done so many things, she was like "I just wish me and my ex-husband could have the same relationship that your dad and your mom can have" - that they can be amicable, that they can be in the same room. That's what this question makes me think about. Those two moments, together.
~Anonymous