Mr. Dove and I have families that look pretty similar when you compare them. Mr. Dove is the oldest of three with two sisters, whereas I am the youngest of three, with an older sister and brother. Mr. Dove’s mom worked while raising them, and my mom has been working for my grandma’s bookkeeping business as long as I can remember. Mr. Dove grew up running track and wrestling, sports that his dad did, where as all of my siblings and I played soccer because we knew nothing else, since we spent most weekends watching my dad play soccer.
We’re also children of divorced parents.
Our families have had two very different paths to our parents splitting up. Mine split when I was seven years old, and we went through most of the heartache as children, not really understanding what was happening between our parents. Mr. Dove’s split his junior year of university, after trying to make it work for the children’s sake. Both of us have had our lives, our opinions on relationships, and especially our opinions on marriage colored by our parents’ divorces, albeit the times it happened in our lives changes the way we looked at it.
All Personal Photos / My dad, me, my sister, my brother, and my mom

I grew up always knowing my parents loved me and my siblings, but they were better people by not loving each other. There was never any thought of my parents being “Mom and Dad”; they have always been “Mom” and “Dad.” When I w...