Single Parenting

My best friend Katelyn and I have been discussing Twilight for a couple months now. Twilight was THE teenage romance series, while we were in middle school and high school. It is also a perfect example of emotional abuse, which, by the way, sets a great stage for physical abuse. Wind Goodfriend Ph.D. does a great job of naming a few of the thousands of examples of abuse Edward displays: He stalks Bella He encourages Bella to have as little interaction as possible from anyone outside his family He preys on her low self esteem He damages her vehicle so she can’t get away Before you go on assuming he was doing this to protect Bella, I just want to point...

I’ve always been the type of person that had absolutely no idea what to do or say when a loved one was hurting. I’ve always felt absolutely useless in these situations and as if I needed to step aside and let an adult handle it. Here are some things that stuck with me during a time I needed help: Don’t try to fill the silence. My best friend once said, “There’s not anything you can say to make it better, but there’s a lot you can say to make it worse.” Just let her be sad, hurt, angry, etc. It’s kind of selfish to fill silence just because you’re uncomfortable anyway, right? Buy a houseplant. Even if a mom thinks she has...

If you’re a single, working mom, who lives alone with your kid(s), you know how busy life can get. Sometimes it seems almost impossible to stay on top of things when you have little to no help on the home-front. I’ve been doing this for five years now, and throughout the years, I’ve managed to find ways to make my work week easier and more efficient.  #1 :: Walmart Grocery Pickup This is a total game changer. Simply order your groceries online, choose a day and time to pick them up, and voila- you’ve saved yourself from an hour of grocery shopping with your kid!  Because who really wants to do that? Not to mention, it allows me to see prices...

Y’all. Mommin’ ain’t easy. Even on a good day, particularly if you have littles or kids with special needs, your role as a mother is physically taxing. Add to that being a single mom and you have one tired human being steering this ship. I found myself in the role of single - mom in October of 2018. It’s an experience I’ll never forget but I’m so glad to tell the story now that I’m on the other side of heartache. My son’s birth was incredible. (Long but incredible.) I waited an entire 28 years for his birth. Being his mother is a dream come true but it was REALLY hard to be a good mom with an excessively unstable partner....

“Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile” Have you seen it? The movie with Zac Efron playing the role of Ted Bundy? The movie about how a single mother falls for this stunningly handsome and articulate law student who lives a double life as a serial killer?  Well I did. And I’m changed forever.  This movie practically marks the time of my life where there is everything before it and then everything after it. There is pre-Ted Bundy movie and post-Ted Bundy movie. That is how my life is now defined. If my life were a book, I would now be entering into Part 2.  I’ve been a single mother for nine years now. And I have lived my life fearlessly, going on...