Sometimes, we even venture out from behind our laptops and meet in person

One of the best parts of taking a break over the holiday was going out on the town for a few hours with the lovely Matt Logelin and the divine Ms. Single Mama. We only stopped talking, laughing and sharing stories long enough to sip on our adult bevvies. It was a good, good time and now I'm dreaming of a killer single parent bash while we blow off BlogHer sessions here in Chicago next summer. Anyone want to join the party?

Matt and Ms. Single Mama chronicle their trips to the Chi here  and here (and I even get a wink or two from them). Check out the short-story-long, a sweet video interview with Master Logelin and some great pics. My favorite, and I'm biased, is this one of the boys in the back of my car. It just struck me as so funny that these guys were squeezed around Lil E's car seat...ahhh, the cost of snuggling up (or cabbing it) with a single mama.

I now have a new camera (eeee!), so next time I meet up with fabloggers, I will take my own photos. Swearsy.

Click to read more ...

Finally, it's final

Eleven years ago, I met the man who became my husband six years ago, became the father of our son four years ago, and then became the person I left and petitioned for divorce 16 months ago. Yesterday, that relationship came to an official end.

Of course, it was over the day I packed up a few bags, took Lil E to a birthday party and made a phone call to say we wouldn't be coming home. I hadn't yet fully grasped the full gravity of the situation, but as I did, the pain intensified, both physically and emotionally. That day seems almost as long ago as the day I walked into the restaurant where he was a bartender and server and I introduced myself as the Hostess with the Mostest. He taught me how to hoist and balance a big tray full of bar glasses and entree plates, how to swiftly wield a wine key while charming a table of customers, and how fun it could be to streak drunkenly home from the bars on rainy Oregon winter nights. We had fun. And many laughs. We had a big love and, wow, we had a great kid together.

If that sounds wistful, it's not. That man I met and loved and married and grew a child inside my body with is not the man who sat on the other side of the court room with me yesterday.

Click to read more ...

Forget the Pearls of Believability, I had this

This sweet little charm arrived just in time in the mail from Kauai, a long-distance hug from one of the kindest women I know. Thanks, lovely.

Since the hope of what is to come and the happiness of what I have right here and now is enough, having this -- a blessing to honor new beginnings -- at my heart feels far better than any plea to be believed. No more need for that.

No, I am done with that.

 

Click to read more ...