I miss my kids…
This whole “parenting alone after the divorce” thing has finally began. Seth and I each have the kids for basically 24 hours. We are still couch surfing so really having us all in one place for any extended amount of time isn’t feasible anyway. Even when the kids are with Seth I call every night to say goodnight and he does the same when I have them. But I still find myself missing them.
When I had Tajh I become a Mom full-time. I have gone to school on and off and worked a little, but I was still there every night. This last 2 years of Seth and I being separated and now divorced has been an interesting transition in my Mothering. I began leaving the children for nights, going on trips without them, and not living every single day for them. At first it was exciting, I became a Mom at 19 so I never really made choices for myself. The excitement has worn off.
I don’t know what to do with myself. When I have them its constantly planning the next move, keeping 5 kids fed and happy is a full-time gig. When I don’t have them even making food is confusing. How do I cook for 1 person? I find myself getting lost on the internet, snacking on terrible foods, and overall just not knowing what to do with myself. I can sit and blog, email, get this “life” thing organized, but then what. I have time to run, but I’m still broken so that’s just disappointing. I find myself sad.
So how does someone who has spent 10 years of their life living for their little people find themselves again? How do I become my own person, not simply the T’s Mom, but Sabrina? And how do I do this when I really don’t want to? When all I want is to be with my kids all day every day?
Moral? I know what Seth and I are doing is right, but that doesn’t mean it feels good. I am allowed to grieve the loss of my former life. The place I felt comfortable, happy, love. The place where I was a Mom, all day every day. Where I didn’t have an identity of my own and that was ok. I miss never being able to go to the bathroom alone. I miss cooking and having a million little people under my feet. I miss having 5 little people talking to me at one time. I miss never having enough hands. I miss not being able to remember if I brushed my teeth. I was ready to no longer be Seth’s wife, I’m not sure I was ready to be Sabrina.
Seven Wild And Free 
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I came to this site having read about your family of ultra-vegan, ultra-runners and the negative press this has generated. Ignore them. Really if you are looking for something to do i feel you have a wealth of experience and advice to offer from your vegan/ running/ parenting lifestyle. Not sure what format it should or could take but investigate these untapped talents. A family-focused health and fitness channel – who knows? Pretty soon you could have a .larger more-unruly family of net-izens to worry about who need your attention.
Good luck
Thank you!
Hi Sabrina,
Your words ring so true with me, even though I have been doing the “single mom” thing a couple of more years than you. It is absolutely sad to not have the family we created; the family we worked so hard for with us each and every day. It is sad to feel empty and broken because the dreams and visions we had for “our” family looks different than we maybe imagined. I am still in grief for the loss of my one family, even as I strive each day to create and foster my “new” (and probably improved?) family of me and my cherished two.
I know it sucks and I know it is rough. But it is sometimes in those absolute moments or even hours of being company to only ourselves that we start, slowly, becoming our best selves. I hope sooner than later you come to enjoy if not fully embrace those moments when cooking for you and no one else, or running just you, and no one else. Because as moms it is easy to forget that we are not “just” us, we ARE us!!
Thanks for sharing a piece of your heart with us!
Another Single Mom
P.S.- And if you ever figure out how to truly be happy and be a single mom, let me know your secret!
Kudos, Erin!