while browsing parenting blogs today and watching people recount some hardships in their lives at the moment. im reminded of a recent period of time in my life, that sometimes creeps back up.
i often say how blessed i am that the only thing i have to worry about is money. and its true.
but there are other things that i have to DO to ensure that the only thing i stress about is money.
I work full time, for not enough money and for more stress than my boss or my boss's boss likely has on their shoulders.
I should mention that I work in a city about 50 miles from where my family lives. this involves a lot of commuting and sometimes going without seeing my son while i sleep in my other apartment.
I experienced a period of time when my significant other and i were separated, that i lived life as a single mother. for one year, i was a single mother. still, i am paying on an apartment i rented shortly before we got back together because of a lease, and because i work an hour from where my family lives. add that commute onto a ten hour day and sometimes its just easier to stay in my skeleton of a house.
thats a whole other story. actually itskind of the same story, but the full version of The Single Life of a Parent, will come later.
sometimes it was hard to put good food on the table, there was always food, but sometimes it was a "creative" meal of what was left in the freezer: i.e. dino nuggets blazing through a sea of mashed tater tots and ketchup, or a different variation of oatmeal every day with a choice of food coloring and fruit combinations. Rainbow Mac N Cheese Weekwas kind of a hit, though it looks SO disguting to a 24 year old. the Ramelette, ramen noodles and eggs fried to an omelette. awesome.
hmmm.
during that time i took a vacation because A i needed it, and B my employer paid more money hourly for vacation time than for working time. How? a poorly executed commission based job. taking vacation brought a little more financial security for me for a month i knew id struggle.
calculating my financies to the penny like that was a new place for me. something i hadnt had to worry about, even as a 16 year old working high school student living with 3 roommates. or a 20 year old living on my own. i always remember having money as an adult and even as a teenager, partly because i didnt have it as a child.
but in the words of Single Dad Laughing (www.danoah.com)
"Throw the worst day you possibly can at me. Take me to the edge of my ability to cope. Rip the rug out from under me. Just let me have that when it's all done, and the world will be right again." (that) being his son, and in this case, my son.
im reminded of the best piece of advice i ever recieved, a piece i got even before my son was born, from a friend.
"in three days this will all look different. in three days you wont see things the way you see them now...just get through the next three days."
its beautiful advice. what is absolutely overwhelming one day will look differently seventy some odd hours later after a good cry, a nice long mental breakdown, and possibly a drink or two of your beverage of choice. i prefer coffee for the job... and sometimes coffee with irish creme, or some nice healthy fruit juice, spiked for my pleasure.
now time for you to shine...since i have turned that comment into a whole blog about me, how selfish i am.
what advice do you have for anyone that has gone through a rough time?
