Spring - Time for Rebirth

Okay, so it isn't Shakespeare, but it is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. It can be very difficult as a single mother to even think about the future, much less craft one out. Every minute of every day is pretty much used up in the day to day grind that is the life of single mothers.

The workweek consists of getting yourself and your children up and running. Teeth and hair need to be brushed, faces washed, kids dressed, and lunches packed. Then there are the many things that need signature: consent forms for field trips, behavior reports, and report cards. Fund raising order forms need to be completed, payments must be made to the cafeteria, before and after school programs, and the cost of the many field trips. Library books need to be rounded up for return, folders put in backpacks, special day snacks sent, etc., etc., etc.

It just never seems to end. And after all those things are done, I need to remember all the things that I need to take care of - pay bills, return phone calls, buy this or that, file taxes, complete the census, book doctors, dentists, and optometrist appointments, etc., etc., etc. Needless to say, some things get - forgotten.

Mornings consist of trying to beat the clock - fighting the need for more sleep for yourself or your kids in a world where there is just never enough time to do it all. After work, there are lessons (TaeKwonDo twice weekly), vision therapy daily (for strobismis), cooking, eating, and bathing. Some days we get to read or play. Sometimes I get some cleaning and laundry done, most days I do not. Then the day is over - all too quickly - and it is time for bed. Weeks race by at this breakneck speed, and months pass just as quickly.

The weekends are filled with catching up on all the things that didn't get done during the week, and trying to squeeze in some fun activities. Occassionally, we visit family or friends. Little time is left for self-improvement, goal setting, and pursuing dreams.

I love my daughter deeply, and I am not complaining about the dizzying pace of my life - just stating its reality. A reality that single moms know all too well. And I am fully aware that there will come a time when my daughter doesn't need me so much, when her needs won't be so time consuming - and I will feel a certain loss when that time comes. Perhaps that is the very reason that I realize that I need to find a more personally fulfilling life, now. If we, as single moms, devote ourselves to being "supermoms", who will we be when that role is no longer there for us because our children have outgrown us?

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