So this single parent thing … it just gets harder doesn’t it?
I’ve been put in my place lately by those single parents out there who have been at it far longer than I have. Tisk, tisk, you young newbie. You think you don’t need a husband? What about intimacy? Oh yeah - that. Well, he does have a point.
You’re not allowed to criticize the personal choice of another single parent with a word like “puke”, that’s juvenile. Yeah, okay, right again and point taken. Shame on me. I could go on.
I want to take a minute to try to explain something, to try to explain where I’m coming from because this blog is now - I think - bigger than I ever expected it would be. Somehow I’ve become the strong “opinionated” one of our little corner of the single parent blogosphere (there are more corners I’m sure we have yet to discover).
I’m not trying to be a matriarch of our “cause.” Do we even have time for a cause?
I’m just a girl spewing my thoughts - not to the internet - but to you. You’re not all walking cyborgs, you are people and you’re reading this stuff and lately that’s been scaring me. What if I don’t know what in the hell I’m talking about? As some of you have been very quick to point out.
I’m single and because I have a child that makes me a single parent, but I’m not an expert. I do know a few things for certain. The first is that Benjamin is my everything…a living and breathing piece of my soul. The second is that being a single parent is one of the hardest things I’ve ever, ever done. So yes, it does define me in a way. Single parenthood can be all-consuming. We are on our own - financially and emotionally. And you may or may not know this but I am really alone.
I don’t have a mom and dad right down the street. I don’t have a brother popping by every week to check on us. Benjamin’s father has him for 36 hours a week, never any more than that. Outside of my co-workers, I don’t have any adults in my life on a daily basis. So from time to time, I go a little crazy. It goes with the territory.
I’m not sure where this is going. I just wanted to apologize for offending any (or all) of you as of late. Please keep in mind - the thoughts you read here are just that - thoughts and they are my own. I might sound like an authority on the subject of single parent dating, but I’m not.
I’m just a walking and living experiment - learning, like the rest of us, as I go. You’re invited to follow along, but please, don’t ever take anything I say too seriously. This is my hobby, my outlet and my refuge. I don’t want it to turn into an ugly mosh pit. And I am truly sorry for egging that mosh pit on sometimes - but some of you really piss me off (and that, is a good thing - keeps me on my toes).
