by Diane | submitted on June 24, 2006
Changes are normal. I know that in my 50’s, but come on. I want to stop those flood gates that force me to self initiate having fun. I am a single parent whose children left in the fall. I work, I have girlfriends. I hike.
The moaning voice is getting boring. She cries. I want someone else to take the lead and drive the car so I can sit back sometimes.
How many times do you hear, GO DO WHAT YOU LOVE and you will meet someone there. I believe it and I am coming home empty.
The point is, I wasn’t empty as a parent because we talked, we had projects, we fought, we dreamed. I know he wasn’t my best friend and still we are family. Comfort of real love and routines with our kids was natural.
Now I put myself in front of the mirror and see all I am in joy and sorrow. I don’t want to eat cereal alone or sip wine at night in front of a TV.
I thought I was grown up and I never knew I would feel so little and out of a loop as I do when the kids leave home. Do you feel this too? Why aren’t single parents invited or really talked to? Do they see us broken? Are we a threat to them?
Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org
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