ABSTRACT
Sadly for Maeve, when she was 5 years old, the summer before she started kindergarten, she and her mother Ellen left California. Her parents had separated. At the time, Maeve had been hoping that it wouldn’t happen. She knew something between her parents wasn’t right even though they never fought – at least she hadn’t ever heard them arguing. But here it was. Her mother and father sat her down and nicely explained how they were going to live in separate places. Maeve was devastated. She later recalled that she cried and exclaimed, “You can’t do that to me!” They told her she was too young to understand everything, but they had decided they could no longer be married. They would be happier apart. They had tried to find a way to stay together, but they just couldn’t. Not only did they decide to live separately, but Maeve and her mother were also moving to Massachusetts where her mom’s parents lived. Maeve would be with her father during summer visits, and he would come to Massachusetts every month to see her. That was the plan.
