Hallie Winterbauer

For junior Hallie Winterbauer, her family was altered due to her father not being a part of her life from a young age.

“It’s hard to see all those seemingly perfect families, which I know don’t exist,” Winterbauer said. “But I always felt like my family was missing something.”

As a child, the idea that there was something wrong in her parent’s marital status wasn’t a thought that often ran through her mind.

“The separation of my parents was definitely a shock because for most of my life I never knew that there was even a problem between them,” Winterbauer said. “My dad was always working, I only noticed that there were gaps and that he wasn’t there, but as a kid, I thought that was normal.”

Not only has the lack of a father figure caused insecurities throughout her childhood, but it has also impacted aspects of her life such as her ability to trust others.

“It’s made having relationships a lot harder for me,” Winterbauer said. “I have trust issues with people in my past and having a romantic relationship is very touchy for me because I don’t really know what’s normal.”

Although there may be hard feelings on the way that things happened in her childhood, she is grateful for the way that it all turned out and the decisions her mother had to make.

“I was ashamed of my dad’s decisions,” Winterbauer said. “But I’m glad my mom did what she had to do.”