The random misadventures of a (formerly)Single Super Mom

My son was always the "young" one.  He made the cutoff to start kindergarten by about 2 weeks.  I considered holding him out, or "redshirting" him, but life got in the way.  I got the news that my then husband wanted  a divorce, and I needed to get a job.  My days as a stay at home mom were over.  I wouldn't have traded them for the world.  He started to struggle in school in first grade.  I attributed it to him being "immature".  By third grade, his self esteem had started to suffer.  My daughter is one of those "natural learners".  Things come so easily to her.  She was that straight A student without even trying.  I'd get so heartbroken when he'd come home and I'd ask him how he did on a spelling test, or a math test; and he'd get this huge grin on his face and tell me "I think I did good this time mom!".  And invariably, the test would come back with less than stellar results.  Report card da...

I spent a weekend under the weather, undoubtedly from spreading myself too thin, and decided to rent some movies to watch during my enforced quarantine.  One of them was "Something Borrowed" with Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson.  As I sat here with my daughter and watched it, it reminded me of friendships past, and how they affect us.  I think that everyone has had "that friend".  That friend that only calls when they want you to give them advice.  Only contacts you when they have a problem.  Doesn't ever check on you to find out how you're doing, but wants you always to know how they're doing.  Where every story you tell, they have one that is just that much better, or more interesting, or more heart-wrenching.  Those are the friends that drain you...that you always wonder why you're friends with them in the first place.  But something in them keeps you coming back.  Some part of the relationship, exhausting as it is, makes you tr...

I rarely give in to the urge to whine.  Really, I don't.  But today, I feel like I need to whine.  Not wine mind you, whine.  Being a single parent, there isn't anyone you can just pass the buck to.  Nobody that will just pick up when you can't.  If you're sick?  You still have to do your everyday things.  If you're tired?  Nobody to come and tell you to take a break; they'll take over.  I sit and look at the laundry that needs to be done.  The vacuuming.  The roll of toilet paper the dog decided to tear up.  The kitchen that needs to be cleaned.  The bathroom where my son continually misses the toilet.  I'm exhausted.  Physically and emotionally. I feel the beginnings of a cold coming on.  But, can I stop?  No.  I have to get up in the morning and take the kids to school.  Go to work.  Come home and be mom.  For once, just once....I'd like to be able to say...can ...

I've noticed something more and more lately; and I'm wondering if it's a sign of the times.  I look on facebook sites of my daughter and her peers, and sites like twitter and tumblr, and I find that certain words that I grew up with, have seem to have lost their power.  Words like "fag*ot", "nig*a" and others, are used without any regard for the offense factor.  In fact, those words don't seem to offend anyone in this generation.  With the rise in popularity of artists like Lil' Wayne, Jay Z, and Kanye West, the words that I always felt were meant to demean, belittle, and isolate a certain portion of the population from others are said without batting an eye....  Calling someone a "fag" or a "n" word was tantamount to a declaration of war.  It's amazing how pervasive the words have woven their way into our society.  Stand up comics, cutting edge cartoons, and popular music seem to have made these words less taboo than ever...

Friday was my 40th birthday.  I remember, when I was younger, thinking that 40 was so...old.  40 meant your life was half over...it was all downhill from there.  Then, my mother had a baby at 40.  I had to reassess how "old" 40 was.   I'll never forget the day she told me she was having another baby...I'd just graduated from high school...and I thought...HOLY CRAP...(first the fact that my parents still made biscuits..and secondly the fact that I thought there was no way in hell that they should be making me another sibling...)...but then this amazing person came along and I can't imagine my life without her... So 40 changed..into something not so old...but still not young....I hit 30 soon after having my second child...and then the slide towards 40 began.   My 30's were filled with the most emotional periods of my life.  The discovery that my marriage was ending...no matter what I tried to do, I couldn't save it.  Moving to a new city...

School is back in session for most of our kids...and the stress level that goes along with it has returned.  Even though summer time had most of us chomping at the bit for our kids to get the hell back to school because they were driving us CRAZY and eating us out of house and home... Now we have to deal with bus delays, car rider lines, school excuse notes (because the good old days of just being able to call the school and let them know your child was sick are over), forms, forms, and more forms.  Forms to try out for a sport, even if you don't make it. Forms to carry a tylenol in your pocket, forms for everything under the sun.  And when, like me, you work at a pediatrician's office...everyone needs their form RIGHT NOW.  Packing lunches, buying school lunches, does your kid qualify for reduced price lunches?  If they do, it's so much cheaper for them to eat at school...but is it healthier?  Navigating all of the choices can be like trying ...