Move over “spinster”: this old term for an unmarried woman is bad-ass
Back when I was buying a condo as an unmarried woman about a decade back, I was confronted with the term “spinster” in the legal documentation declaring that I *gasp* had no husband in the process of buying this home. Get your fainting couches ready. I think it would have been far less jarring had I been confronted with the term THORNBACK, though. What’s a thornback you ask? Come with me on this journey of fantastic singlehood, friends…
Shame kept me from sending single parent Christmas cards
Why over a decade of holiday seasons have come and gone without a Christmas card from us is complicated.
Actually it’s not! It’s because of shame; plain and simple.
I ended up feeling like I didn’t have a “right,” or we weren’t “enough of a family” to send one out. Like it was a feeling that we weren’t complete. Like somehow we were less of a family because there wasn’t a second parent, or even another child. Just me and her. Just. Only.
How do I talk to potential roomies about living with me and my kid?
My soon-to-be ex-husband and I have shared custody of our son, which means he is with me about half of the month. In addition to being a mother, I work full time and am studying full time as well. (Read: I’m poor.) I’m living with a family member at the moment but I’m trying to relocate closer to school and work.
I’m a single mom, but I don’t do it alone
I’ve had many friends and family and acquaintances exclaim, “I don’t know how you do it!” when I mention the kids and work and school and all my various activities. I have a LOT on my plate, but in the throes of it, I just… do it. I manage. Somehow. Here’s the thing, though. I think the term “single mom” is kind of misleading. Yes, I am single. “Single” in the strictly relationship-status-definition of the word. I do not have a boyfriend or significant other who helps me with housework and rubs my feet at night and shares the day-to-day responsibility of caring for my children.
A foresty mom-and-me session with a single parent and her five-year-old
These photos of Athalia and her daughter, Lailah, were recently sent over to us from California photographer Whittaker Portraits. Athalia is a single mom, and wanted to capture this time in her five-year-old’s life. Athalia plans to give these to her daughter when she grows up along with poems, letters, and quotes she’s kept in a journal, which I love!
Single parenthood by choice: I adopted a child after ending my 15-year marriage
Most days as I push our stroller up a hill loaded with my son and a week’s supply of groceries and feel the muscles in my arms and legs working, I am reminded of the total body workouts I used to enjoy at my local gym. Not that long ago I lived a very different life — one that included a husband, a charming little house that we owned on a tree-lined street, a fulfilling full time job, a fun fashion part time job, volunteer work as a board of director for two companies, four weekly gym workouts and a circle of friends for dinner parties or BBQs and occasional travel.
I’m a single mom getting ready to move out with my kid — care to share your family budgeting tips?
I am a single mother with a rapidly evolving career. My three-year-old and I have been living with my parents for almost two-and-a-half years now, and it’s time to leave. I found a decent (read: not dangerous) apartment complex, and we will be moving in about a month.
Why I’m tired of the mentality that marriage = babies
What I’ve been considering a lot lately, and what has been upsetting me, is that marriage seems to = babies according to common logic. I find myself not just frustrated as a woman that is simply not damn ready to have a baby yet, but also insulted for pretty much any family that has done things differently.