I woke up in that morning feeling really happy. It was my best friend’s birthday and I was going to her party in her house in the afternoon. I woke up around 7am because I couldn’t sleep with the excitement of spending the day with Katie. I decided to go take a shower and then I got dressed. It was summer so I dressed some jean shorts and my favorite t-shirt: it’s blue with pink butterflies, since blue is my favorite color. After getting dressed, I put my hair in a ponytail, just like my mom liked, and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Since I was just 9 I didn’t know how to cook yet so I drank some juice and I ate a piece of bread with butter. Luckily my brother would wake up soon and make me some pancakes. My parents would probably only wake up at 11am, just like they always did on Saturdays, so I decided to go to the living room to watch some cartoons while I waited for my brother. 1 hour had passed already even though it seemed like a whole day. I was really excited for that afternoon.
Finally at 10am my brother woke up and he cooked me a proper breakfast and came to watch cartoons with me. Even though he was already 18 he still loved them and I always made fun of him because of that! With my brother playing with me the time passed much faster and soon my parents woke up and it was time for lunch. My mom was feeling very lazy to cook so we just ordered some pizzas, which of course I didn’t mind because I loved pizzas (and I still do!).
After lunch my dad took me to Katie’s house. The minute we got there I jumped out of the car after giving my dad one last kiss and saying goodbye.
The party was obviously fantastic. All of my friends were there and we played lots of games, like hide and seek, we danced and sang and we played with her Barbie’s and dolls and also with her dogs. By 5pm we sang happy birthday and ate the cake. It was a chocolate cake with cream in the middle and on the top it had hot chocolate and with cream it said “Happy birthday Katie!” It was probably the best cake I had ever eaten in my entire life, I even ate two pieces! Then she opened her presents. She got lots of stuff but since I was her best friend she opened mine first. I got her a very big teddy bear that was even bigger than us and she totally loved it, which made me so happy!! After that, we went to play a little more and then at 7pm we all went home.
It was my brother who picked me up and he asked me how it was so I told him all the details of the party, very excited. He only answered me “How great sis, I’m glad you had fun” so I noticed something was wrong. He usually plays with me and keeps asking questions the entire time. However, this time he was very silent which felt weird, but I didn’t ask anything because maybe it was problems with his girlfriend and I didn’t want to upset him even more. After all I was only 9 and I could be very annoying sometimes.
When we got home something felt weird. I also noticed my mom had been crying. Maybe one of my grandparents had died, poor mom, it must be terrible to lose one of your parents, I thought. However, I could have never imagined the real reason of her tears.
Mom: Jen, we need to talk.
Me: Okay, mom, what’s wrong? Is everything okay?
Mom: Jen, your father’s not going to be around here for a little while. I’m so sorry.
Her words just kept echoing in my head. “So he’s… gone? He just left? Doesn’t he love us anymore, is that it? What are we gonna do now? How are we gonna survive just the 3 of us? And… why didn’t he even say goodbye? I don’t understand, our life, I thought it was so great… I loved our life… How did he do this? How’s it gonna be now?” With these thoughts in my head I rushed to my room crying. My own father had left me without even saying anything… A few hours ago I was the happiest 9-year-old in the world and now I was just a scared 9-year-old with afraid of the future.
A little later my brother came to my room to talk to me. He would be leaving in a few days to LA to pursue his acting dream. He told me he would come visit and that I could always call him whenever I needed, that he would always support me and be there for me. When he finished we gave the biggest hug we had ever shared. In that moment my whole world collapsed and I stayed crying in his lap for the rest of the night. The 2 most important men of my life would no longer be here anymore.
This was the day when everything changed and I never ever forgot it.
