What It’s Like Not Having Your Children Everyday
They’re a timeshare in divorce.
It’s Tuesday night. This is the day that my daughter comes home with her homework folder for us parents to empty and sign any forms. This is the night that kicks the week into high gear, scrambling with leftover laundry and figuring out school lunches for the rest of the week.
But not for me.
Tonight, I’m alone in my new house.
And I miss them. God, do I miss them.
It’s like being in an alternate universe where you can’t just walk to another room and see your kids like you used to. Or, realistically, have them barge in like they always do.
Like they always did. Before the divorce.
Before the pandemic and before separating, I was almost a full-time single mom. My soon-to-be ex-husband worked far away. I was the one who did all the work for them and was present for everything, despite also having a full-time job. Sometimes he made it just in time for bedtime, which I loathed because I had a system to get them to sleep consistently; his random arrivals amped them up and disrupted the structure which took days to fix.
When Joseph raged against me about the divorce, I made peace that I wouldn’t see my kids every day. There were no late…
