Monday, April 22, 2013

Single parenting

Single parents deserve a bloody medal.

Wendy is away at a conference this week, which means her primary complaints are the difficulty in finding a tool to open all the bottles of wine she and her colleagues plan to drink at their nonstop parties every night.  I, on the other hand, am a single parent for a little while.

This is where you all sigh and say "His life is so hard, he probably needs presents."

Or, more likely, you shout at me to shut up since I am a single parent who doesn't have to go to a job - how freaking easy is that?

It will be good for me in the long run, of course, but many things that are good for you in the long run aren't that much fun at the time.  It will give me time alone to figure some things out and get some things done though, which is good.  There are chores that have piled up over the past few weeks that I have been ignoring and when I am alone I can't avoid them for some reason.  I don't know why exactly it is so much easier to vacuum, do laundry, and dust when there is no other adult in the house but it sure is.  Somehow it is soothing to me to get chores done each day and I need that when my evenings are less exciting.

Knowing that I will need more adult time I have furiously booked get togethers with friends all through this week.  Wendy was a bit envious of my social schedule - she wants to see all these folks too!  After doing so I wondered why I don't call all these people up all the time; I think I just forget that I have an equal responsibility in maintaining relationships and I sit around just waiting for somebody else to ask me to do things.  It is a good kick in the pants to get me out there and realizing that if I want to see people I had best pick up the bloody phone.

It strikes me that being a single parent for a week is going to be good for me.  I miss Wendy a lot but time apart is good; it reminds me of why time together is so amazing.  Gotta say though to all the single parents who have jobs and don't have partners helping them:  You are juggernauts.

2 comments:

  1. I've been a single parent for a couple of days at a time and I never found it that hard. But all the while that I was not finding it that hard, I knew that it was only for a few days. If instead of a few days it had been a couple of decades things would have been different.

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  2. Yes. Let me be the first to shout Shut up and suck it up Cuz! Single parenting does suck. Especially with a full time job, a 1/2 acre yard to mow, a house and pool to take care of, and two kids to ferry around to activities. Luckily for me, my spouse won't be partying every night. He'll be welding 12 hrs/day 5 hrs away and be home for a day and a half on the weekends for as long as the strike lasts.

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