Single Moms Come in All Shapes and Sizes...

...and I don't just mean height, weight, race or age, although all the above applies as well. There are Single Moms with or without family support, with or without a Dad or other parent contributing time and/or money, with or without financial means, with or without physical or emotional health, with or without whatever resources we as human beings may or may not have. And we are Single Moms regardless.

Everyone has a Mom - okay, that's a silly truism. What I mean is: everyone's Mom did the best she could, with the skills, support, and other resources she had, whether Non-Single, Single, or Absent. Knowing that being a Mom is the hardest job in the world, the most heart-breaking, the least forgiving, with the harshest penalties for failure. Knowing all that, knowing society's high ideals for motherhood, and knowing yourself, sometimes the best you can do for your children, is to be Absent. And believe someone else is more capable of raising your children than you are.

But that's not My Story. It could have been my story. It was almost my story. My Story is Part-Time Single Mom, with family support, with a Dad who has our kids 50% of the time, with a stable full-time job, with my physical health and (mostly) my emotional health, with such numerous and sundry resources behind me that being a Mom, being a Person who is a Mom, should be a walk in the park. And I'm still exhausted. I'm still being pulled in a several directions at once and wondering how I'm going to get through today, much less an entire week of todays. And yet, I wouldn't trade my kids, my life, my chaos, for all the tea in China.

So I'm one of the Lucky ones. And as such, kudos to all Single Moms, of All Shapes and Sizes and Situations. I intend this Blog, in some way shape or form, to be the story of just One Single Mom. Who gets by. As we all do.