Solo Mother

Saturday’s round up of good things and bad and indifferent

by christina on February 16th, 2008

You know, I wouldn’t go through another breakup for all the tea in China, nor for the $108 million that Heather Mills is getting in that oh so celebrity divorce from Sir Paul. 55 million pounds, and she says she has to leave England because everyone hates her. Or some such. Perhaps it was just London. If I had all that dosh, I don’t know what I’d do. Go to the gym every day, probably, and pay someone to whip me into shape. What’s she going to do with it? Live the life to which she has become accustomed. There are no bitter grapes here. I happened to marry a man who doesn’t keep up with his child support and will never pay alimony, even though I was a stay at home mother for the first three and a half years of my son’s life. No. Mostly I’m grateful that, though difficult, my divorce won’t be public and so rife with the opinions of total strangers. The opinions of folks we know are enough to deal with thank you very much. *wry grin*

***

The King and I saw The Spiderwick Chronicles today. A little much for a kid almost five, he said when it was all over that it wasn’t too scary — but he’s sleeping in my bed tonight. Just because. Single moms, be warned. There are some parts that rub rough over hearts that have loved and lost, and if your ex cheated on you or left you for another woman, be warned… so did the dad in this flick. It inspired an interesting conversation with the King of Everything, though, and gave me another opportunity to quote the mantra that his parents each love him, and are much better off without each other. Go figure.

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Today brought me two jaw-dropping surprises: one made me burst into tears, one made me sigh and shrug. A very dear friend of mine sent me an Ah! ring for Valentine’s Day, amazing woman that she is. I guess she knows me very well, and knows I would never admit to a hard job well done, nor would I ever praise myself enough or recognize that what I do, and what we all do as single mothers, is good enough for ourselves, for our children, for our communities. Every time I look at this beautiful ring, I am reminded that I do good work, I am a good mother, and even though I am too hard on myself all the time, there are people in this world who see the real me and are determined that I should, too. So of course, I burst into tears. Which is why the phone call from the ex announcing that he’s trying to come to the States NEXT WEEK for a visit just made my head spin, but I didn’t pull a Linda Blair and projectile vomit pea soup. Honestly, is it too much to ask for more than a week’s notice for these things, especially when the last news I heard was a possible visit over the KoE’s spring holidays? And no, I’m not very good at finding hotels. We both access the same Internet, and this city hasn’t changed much in the last couple of years.

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I really, really miss having a manly-man around the house. You know. A man who owns his own tools. Someone gave the KoE a late, late Christmas present, and I can’t get the damned thing out of its anti-theft packaging without spending who knows how much on a long, thin screwdriver. See, the damned RoboReptile was screwed onto this plastic base, but the base is soooo deep, and the aperture for the screwdriver is sooooo narrow, that none of the half-dozen screwdrivers I own will fit the bill. I’m screwed. And another thing. The damned base is so deep, the hole so narrow, that I can’t see up there to know if I’m to buy a flat or Phillips-head screw driver. The KoE has a deep fascination with all things flashlight, and so has burned out the three or four we had secreted around the house in case of a black out. Did I mention that the RoboReptile is going to cost me a fortune in batteries? NINE of them. NINE. But it’s a robot. The Kid is wild with excitement to get the thing working. I hope it’s as cool as it sounds, because otherwise? A whole lot of kerfuffle for a dud. But I’m playing the helpless female here, and no valiant knight has come to my rescue with a good screwdriver. Men.

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I have been sick for a week. You do not want the norovirus. No No no no no! LOL which reminds me of that classic Monty Python line… “I got better!”

This is SoloMother, signing out. Don’t forget to leave a comment here for a chance to win a copy of the book, “The Modern Mom’s Guide to Dad: Ten Secrets He’ll Never Tell You”

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