They moved away a few summers later, to a house not far away at all. Yet, I seemed to distance myself, almost purposely from their family. I still don't know why I did that.

I missed them. I missed the time we spent outside in the cul-de-sac making forts and playing impromptu baseball without bases, and sometime even without a bat.

Then, as we started high school, the unthinkable happened. Craig was diagnosed with cancer. When I found out, things went blurry. I don't remember what people told me, or even remember most of the rest of that day. I walked around in a daze thinking "this doesn't happen to people I know" and wondering what I could do to help.

The doctors caught it and it went away for a while.

"But why do you still have..." he started back at me.

The divorce was final on October 10, 1994. My dad had moved out and got an apartment just up the street. My eyes still fill with tears when I recall hearing his voice telling me that everything was going to be okay. It wasn't. My mom got tired of being a single parent very quickly. A week and a half after my dad moved, my mom flipped out, left to "go get some groceries" and never came back. My dad moved back into our house to take care of my sister and I. I didn't see my mother for two years after that day. She wrote us letters from Arkansas saying "You two were my life for a long time, and now things can't be that way anymore...I'll never forget you guys" Eventually, we did start seeing her again, because she moved back to Mesa. Things are much better now that we are all older and more mature, but the summer of '94 will live on in my memory forever.

I wanted desperately for him to understand but I knew in my heart that he couldn't. So I told him I loved him, got into my car, and went home. One day he'll understand.

We were a well-rounded family. Or so I thought. We had a good size house on a quiet street, with two kids, mom, dad and of course, the family dog. We had "normal" friends and what you could consider a "normal" extended family. We had extravagant family holidays and we often spent many Saturday mornings eating Cheerios and watching cartoons together. Until now, anyway. Dad was leaving. Mom had had enough. It was over, she said. I sat silently playing with my shoelaces, completely denying that this was even happening.

"I don't know and I can't even begin to explain it," I interrupted. "You and I have a bond that I don't think many people have and I can't put words to it. But when you ignore that, even though I know you feel it, too, I just can't deal with that."

Some common words found in the essay are:
Craig Leavitt, Writing Collage, School School, dad moved, sixth grade, trying tell, happen people, mad mad, couldn't deal, trying friend,
Approximate Word count = 1507
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)