My name is Beverly, and I've lived with my dad since he and my mom divorced. They've been divorced for three years now, from the time I was seven years old. Right now I am having a hard time with a lot of things, especially because my brother and I haven't been getting along.

Without my mom around it is hard for me and my brother to do things together. It's not like how it used to be before my mom left. Before she left my brother and I always used to talk to each other and do a lot of things together. And we'd get along with each other. Right now it's like we are enemies towards each other.

Since my parents divorced, my dad let's us call my mom only once a week. I think that hearing from my mom once a week isn't enough because she and I always used to talk to each other when we had problems or when we just felt like talking. Every time we'd get the chance to talk to each other, I'd tell her about how things were going and how l was doing.

One day I decided to go and talk to a counselor about what I was going through. I asked her if she could help me with my problems. She told me that she could, and I told her all about my parents' divorce and what it had done to me and my brother.

After talking to the counselor, I went back to my brother and told him that maybe if we talked to our dad he might try to get back with our mom. We tried talking to him when he wasn't busy, but he told us that he was not going go back to our mom. Then he told us why he doesn't want to go back with her.

After the talk with dad, my brother decided to go and live with my mom since he wouldn't be able to see her as much as he wanted. I wanted to go too, but since only one of us could go, I decided to stay with my dad. And really, staying with my dad is not bad at all.

By: Mary Jane Shorty