The only day I remember of my parents’ marriage was the day my dad walked out. As I stood there at five years old, with my older sister and younger brother, I knew that he was gone.

The speaker frames a childhood memory of parental separation as the defining—and almost sole—recollection of her parents’ marriage. By emphasizing her age (“five years old”) and the presence of siblings, the quote highlights how family rupture can become a formative, clarifying moment in a child’s consciousness: the instant when an abstract change becomes emotionally certain (“I knew that he was gone”). The wording suggests both the suddenness of abandonment and the way memory can compress a complex relationship into a single traumatic scene, shaping later identity, trust, and resilience.