Life is like a game.

The milestones you pass are small victories like passing "GO" in Monopoly and being able to collect $200.

The decisions you make are like a game of Risk. You're not quite sure what the long term effects will be, but in that moment you make the choice that seems best.

I enjoyed many games as a child and having a mother and father to play it with made me even more excited and more willing to see the world in colorful board game pieces and spaces.

One day I heard my mother and father argue.

I had never heard their voices so loud.

The tension was there.

Like how an argument strikes out between two players in a game over who cheated or who stole a turn

Over time, it became an everyday thing.

It got to the point where we stopped having family game night all together.

I took my board games and stacked them one on top of the other and shoved them under my bed.

I think my mom had the same idea.

One night as I laid in bed and watched some movie on Disney Channel, I hear my mother and father arguing in the hallway.

I heard shuffling, the rolling of a suitcase and a

"Don't do this. Not to her!"

My mother came in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, a tight hug and with a shaky voice explained she'd always love me and that this was all just temporary.

As the door slammed, I was puzzled.

Then my dad came in.

With teary eyes.

It then registered that this was serious and perhaps

this was no longer a game. 

From that day forward, we lost a player

And my colorful world turned to grey.

Grey like the dust on my board games under the bed. 

At some point in middle school I threw them away completely.

I wasn't a child anymore and I had to put away childish things.

My father and I to this day play as a team in this game of life

This is the only game that I wish to participate in

While it saddens me that we don't have a third player,

with two players the possibilities are just as endless.

I will continue to play this game of life even though I have grown up and moved on.

It's unlike me to reveal my next move.

But in this case it's no secret.

I can only move forward

We can only move forward.