When a family separates, it is a very bitter experience. It doesn't matter if the separation was in friendly terms or if they don't want to see each other again, after all, one of the saddest things is to see how a family disintegrates.
But when we go through this process there is something that we must be very clear: the most important in any separation are the children. And this is something that is very clear to separated parents, because for them despite having divorced they will always be a family.
Since 2013, Victoria Baldwin and Adam Dyson of the United States have taken a family photo together. The first one was when they were waiting for their baby Bruce and Victoria was in the last week of pregnancy. Since then they decided to start a tradition: take a family photo every year.
A couple of years later in 2015, Victoria and Adam divorced and took separate paths. But one tradition remained: his annual family photo. She sent her story to the Love What Matters Facebook page where she tells why despite having divorced they continue to respect this family tradition.
"The two photos above were taken when Adam and I were married. The two below were taken almost a year later and then two years after our divorce was over. We are not in love, we do not always agree, we are not Best friends, sometimes we don't even like each other, but they know what we are, we are a couple that will be forever connected by our beautiful, intelligent, kind, compassionate and funny son, we respect each other. neither of our roles as parents takes priority over the other - none of us is more important than the other in the life of our child. The two of us need to be there, the two of us need quality time and create memories with him. Neither of us blamed the other for the path our relationship took. We don't blame each other, and we certainly don't blame ourselves in the presence of our son.
Adam and I are not perfect parents, but we made a deal when we divorced, put our son first and value the wealth that each brings to his life, for several reasons. So yes, we continue to take a family photo, and I still pay a good amount of money to have the images printed and framed in our son's room. He may not grow up with parents living in the same house ... but he will grow up seeing respect, kindness, empathy, compassion, perseverance, flexibility and even sacrifice, modeled by his two parents and he will know that it is possible to stop being in love, but never separated."
Victoria and Adam currently live in different extremes of the country, she in Alaska and he in South Carolina, and although it is not easy to organize to take a family photo, they continue making the effort to do it every 12 or 18 months. They have taken advantage of when Victoria is going to leave Bruce to spend some season with his dad and vice versa, besides that they are constantly in communication, sharing and talking with each other about everything related to their child.
This is undoubtedly a beautiful story of how a couple goes out of their way so that their separation does not affect their childWell, in the end, even if they don't continue together, they're still parents. Of course one never marries thinking that they will later separate, but I think this is a beautiful story that reminds us and shows that it is possible to breed together despite being separated.
