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 →
Damsel
Becoming a parent will turn your life completely upside down. You suddenly have this creature for whom you must perform many roles - safe space, nurturer, provider, protector. Becoming a single parent means performing all the roles when your children are under your care. You have to switch between being the gentle parent, the tough-love... 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 →
Work It
The last year has been an ever-humbling reminder that you can't do it all. Or, you can't do it all well. Attempting to scotch tape a social life together out of a handful of free hours makes for flimsy attachments and distracted parenting. Now that I have started working, I am again reminded that I'm... Continue Reading →
A Season of Change
It is finally less oppressively hot in Houston, though no less humid. Hurricane season isn't over, and you still sweat when you so much as look out the window, but the weather is indeed changing. Halloween decor is going up around our neighborhood and big box stores have moved straight to Christmas decor. Most importantly,... 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 →
What’s in the Box?
The weekends and holidays spent without my kids these last nine months have left me feeling the way I imagine empty nesters feel - every waking moment is devoted to caring for your kids, and suddenly one day they're gone. At first you wander aimlessly from room to room, waiting for someone to need you,... Continue Reading →
The Ties That Bind
In the last nine months I've been reaching out to old friends. I got married so young, and in order to seek out people who knew me before all that, I have to go way back. I've always been an awful pen pal. When I was little and moved away from friends every three or... Continue Reading →