From the outside, there appear to be two kinds of single parents. You can do it all, strive for perfection, and pull it off. Or you can barely get by, almost fall apart, and struggle for breath. For me, though, it has always been both. Strength and struggle seem to go hand in hand.
Previous installments can be found here. There will be spoilers. “An historian” is a perfectly acceptable Commonwealth convention, haters to the left [side of the road]. Edith and Percy Thompson were lower-middle-class residents of a London suburb, entirely ordinary until the day in 1922 when Edith’s younger lover, the sailor Freddy Bywaters, arrived unexpectedly at their home and stabbed Percy to death. Despite the total lack of evidence that Mrs. Thompson knew anything about the…
The idea that someone knows whether or not I have cancer but is keeping it from me is ridiculous, but here it is, actually happening. “Your results are in. The doctor is out until Monday. Only the doctor can relay your results. I’m sorry, ma’am. Have a nice weekend.” I can’t even bring myself to do a Lifetime movie style screaming rant at the “Have a nice weekend.” Even in a Lifetime movie, it’s hard…
Do you remember how, in The Cider House Rules, Homer says: "Let us be happy for Fuzzy Stone. Fuzzy Stone has found a family"? Fuzzy Stone had not, in fact, found a family, he was dead from a respiratory infection, but was, at least, no longer an orphan. Let us be happy for Gwyneth and Chris. They have found release. Did I know them? No. But they seemed miserable and bored and lonely together, and…
There’s a magnetic poem on my fridge, and it reads “I love us / family is something creative.” The only hitch is, it’s not my fridge anymore, and hasn’t been for almost a year. My ex-partner and I broke up last year after a four-year relationship, the majority of which was spent co-habitating in the house we bought together. It was also spent parenting his daughter, now 9 years old, with his ex-wife and her…
Ideally you should begin this process approximately ten years before you plan to get divorced by meeting the best person you have ever known and marrying them. If you plan to get divorced in less than ten years, don’t worry! Many have accomplished this work on an accelerated schedule.
Give and receive affection, accrue memories and experiences, come through struggles, share joys, have a child. Above all, make sure that at some point, things…
