By Clare Messina-Fitzgerald
Second Place Winner, Grades 4-6 Division, 2011
Key Elementary School, 5th Grade
Teacher: Ms. Williams
I have two moms and two dads. They are gay and lesbian. They live in two different houses. I live with my moms in a yellow house and my dads in a blue one. I have one biological parent at each house.
I have many things I like about having two moms and two dads. One thing is that I have a lot of grandparents and family members. I’m grateful that I have so many family members that care about me. I don’t even know half of them! Another thing I like about having two moms and two dads is that if one house doesn’t want to get a pet, the other house might. For example, my moms’ dog died and they didn’t want to get a pet, so my dads got a dog; her name is Ivy. I also like getting more presents because we celebrate Christmas and my dads buy me presents and so do my moms. Both houses have a Christmas tree.
There are also some things that I don’t like, nothing that bad. One thing is going back and forth from my moms’ to my dads’. What’s hard about moving back and forth is that once I’ve settled into one house’s rules, games and food I have to change all of that. Also, if I have a playdate or a sleepover and my friend brings their Nintendo or some type of toy, mind might be at the other house. The last thing that is difficult about having two moms and two dads is that I miss my moms when I’m at my dads’ and vice versa.
But, in the whole, I do like having two moms and two dads. It has taught me that no matter what family circumstance you have, you usually have people that love you. I have adapted to both my moms’ and my dads’ traditions. That’s why I think of myself as living in a green house because I have taken from my moms’ yellow house and my dads’ blue house.