Life is clumsy. Sloppy. Bogged down in minutiae and an onslaught of tasks, you forget yourself, let alone your partner. Something will suffer, and parents usually choose their kids as a priority when it all becomes too much. When the mail piles up, you open the bills first. When you are overextended, you take care... Continue Reading →
Surprise Me
The most difficult transition for me as a single parent is the wild swing between Mom and Human Woman. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I rarely left the house without my kids in tow. Babysitters were rare, so experiencing life as an adult was fleeting and required a lot of planning. Now that my... Continue Reading →
Perks
The beginning of a relationship is worlds away from how it ends. Even the less pretty days in the trenches are not an accurate foreshadowing of how it will look when you hear the death knell. It's never fair to compare something new to something road-tested. While my experience with new relationships wouldn't fill an... Continue Reading →
A Stone Unturned
If you've been separate from your spouse for a year, you'd think most sticky situations would have come up over the course of 365 days. We've all had birthdays and every holiday, done school and summer breaks, traveled, looped in grandparents and cousins, surely we know what we're doing by now. You would be wrong.... Continue Reading →
October is Canceled
There's an episode of Friends where Ross is seeing things all around town that remind him of his first date with Carol, which happened several years ago on that day. He says they eat stone fruit and its supposedly fall, which seems ridiculous, but that's not the point. The point is: you can be skipping... Continue Reading →
A Very Merry Unbirthday
There are bad changes that come with divorce, but there are also a lot of good changes that have surprised me. Lately, I've been thinking about traditions. We don't have to completely abandon the things we did before, but we also don't have to adhere to previously agreed upon rules anymore. Our lives are really... Continue Reading →
That Ship Has Sailed
First you divide up time with your children, then you split your belongings, but who gets custody of your friendships? Having met many divorced people roughly my age in the last six months, the division of friends varies, depending on your situation. As with assets, any friends you had coming in to the relationship remain... Continue Reading →
When It’s Over
Since the dawn of the hashtag, friends and family have been commenting on our photos and in my DMs claiming our marriage is #relationshipgoals. Happy couple, beautiful kids, matching Christmas pajamas, family movie nights, smiling faces all around. All this time, I thought they were right. Things had been harder the last few years with... Continue Reading →
Love to the Max
Even before I started transitioning to minimalism I had problems with gifts. I gave "needs" that were practical when my husband and family were hoping for "wants," and nothing would stress me out more than opening presents in front of other people. This custom still baffles me. Anxiety has been an ever-present guest star in... Continue Reading →
Anomaly
Every birthing partner will make a mistake on the big day. The stakes are high, there's someone wailing and moaning in front of you, your life is about to change completely from one minute to the next. I get it, its a minefield. My grandmother was in labor for, like, ninety-seven hours I'm guessing, and... Continue Reading →