This story starts in 1991, on my 20th birthday: I was due to visit my boyfriend’s parents that week but Mom wanted me to stay with her: if Frank (Louise’s dad) died in the middle of the night she didn’t want Louise, aged 7, to wake up and find herself alone in the house. The […]
Author Archives: Jade Hammer
Divorce Court – A Child’s Perspective
Tensions between my parents regularly erupted, but the incident that affected me most took place two days before I turned 16: they went to Court and I was called as a witness. The argument that started Court Proceedings on this occasion started around Christmas 1986. Dad wanted me to visit over a certain few days […]
My Baby Sister
One morning when I was 11, Mom turned off the Little River Band concert on the TV and said that we needed to talk. It was springtime outside and the sun was streaming through the living room windows. Against this backdrop, Mom poured forth a story about how she had fallen in love but that […]
Dad -v- Spider
Dad built a house for each of his two wives. Both marriages ended in divorce, but the houses themselves have lasted. So I’m visiting Dad one weekend. The back of his house is a corn field. I’m In my bedroom (originally painted blue for my former stepbrother) and I’m at my desk doing some homework. […]
Divorce – a child’s perspective
One of the only happy memories I have with both my parents is when we went to fly a kite. I was so young (perhaps as young as 3? Certainly no older than 4) that I couldn’t possibly tell you where we were – but I do remember the kite had big bloodshot eyes – […]
Brazilian Summer, Illinois Winter
Andrea and I were in school together – aged 14-ish. In the hallway one day I saw some older kids picking on a girl saying “Go home! We don’t want you here.” I remember marching up and putting myself in between her and her tormentors. I said “How many languages do you speak?!” When I […]
