Navigating life as a (second)wife, (step)mom, and (frazzled)bear with inappropriate laughter and near-perfect hindsight.
It was just a few weeks ago that a friend of mine called to chat and suggested that she run away from home with no forwarding address. Been there, thought that. Who hasn’t? We can all admit an urge to flee from our children occasionally, can’t we?
The Longest Breakup: A Response
Deer, raccoons, and other reasons why I have rescinded this year’s application for “Favorite Parent.”
Ten seconds ago, you were knee-deep in diapers. And now? That child (or children) are gone. You spent eighteen years preparing your tiny humans for a launch and, in the process, somehow, you forgot to prepare yourself.
I know we are all supposed to be offering odes to our college-bound children. I know, as we see the “time to move out!” pile grow taller, we are supposed to fully lean into our feelings of sadness and despair and question how, exactly, we will move on with an empty bed in our homes. It’s just that I am having other, more happy feelings, as well.
A year ago at this time, we hadn’t yet found out that our child had essentially dropped out of her life. Today, we are preparing to send her out of the nest again and we are hitting all emotions.
If you’d asked me eight years ago how I’d react to hearing that our kids’ (bio)mom was moving out of state, I’d probably have answered with something along the lines of, “oh, thank you six pound baby Jesus.” But that was then.
My kids are gross. I don’t even care. Well, I mostly don’t even care. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to the 5% of me that still gets bowed up at the pure “ick” of teenage hygiene.
It’s happened again. I thought maybe we could just ride out the rest of 2021 without any major parenting milestones, but alas...kids. Am I right? Or rather, NON-parenting milestones. The parenting moments your pesky teens steal from you without permission. I've written before about that sense of loss, like you missed an important invite. Maybe … Continue reading Flu-ing the Coup
This is one of those blogs that could go haywire really quickly - much like the conversations between my husband and I regarding the subject matter. Could go haywire? Oh, yeah - our conversations have absolutely gone haywire. If by haywire you mean, oh, hey, has this caused the two of you any all-out-definitely-count-as-an-argument moments?. … Continue reading Failure to Launch