Celebrating Love... And This Single Mom Thing

The other day, Aiden crawled into my bed as soon as we got home and fell asleep. Around midnight, I picked him up and put him into his own bed. He didn't wake up until 5:45 the following morning.

He was tired.

Can't say that I blame him since he wakes up at 5:45 in the morning so that we can head out the door by 6:15. Monday through Friday.

You see, momma's gotta get to work early in the morning. Which means that baby boy's gotta get to school even earlier. He attends early morning drop-off and then stays for the after school program, where he enjoys art class and Zumba and piano lessons and music class and good ol' free play in the school gym.

He's got a long commute and longer days. He works. Hard! And he doesn't complain. Not once.

Because this is our life. All of it. It ain't all great, but it's not all bad either.

You see, when I dodged a bullet and ended things with his other parent, then took the plunge into this Single Mom thing, I decided that, "Hey, this is our life, kid. And we're gonna make the best of it."

And so we are.

By traveling and experiencing other cities. And going on vacations to Hawaii and to Disney World and all around the Caribbean. (And it being the first time for the both of us to experience these things, because, you know, we're growing together.) Aiden gets to go the swimming and soccer and private school and martial arts — things that I never got to do as a kid. And, my gosh, we go to the theater. A lot. Because it's a favorite past time for the both of us.

We play hard, but we also work hard. He grinds with me, and when I'm working, he's working. Hard! We're far from wealthy. But we're rich. In love and health and happiness. It's not easy — it's not supposed to be — but we're very blessed.

So this Valentine's Day, I'm celebrating love and life and single motherhood and children of single mothers, because, hey… this is our life. All of it. It's not perfect. But we make it work.

And it's worth it. It's so worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day, lovelies!