Most of the time, I super ok with being a single mom. Sure, it would be nice to have companionship, and I’d love to have another child or two, and just getting out without the girls (or running errands for the girls) would be nice, but then I think of the things that I’d be giving up if I did find someone. The bond between my girls and I think is so much stronger than those of other mom and daughters – not that other mom’s don’t have great relationships with their daughters, but there’s something about a single mom’s relationship that I think is different – in a good way (I can speak from experience since I didn’t grow up with a single mom).

But let me tell you about one thing I can’t stand. I’ve been working on it for the last two days, and more than once I’ve thought, “I wish I had a man around the house!!!!!”  Actually I’ve occasionally thought about it in terms much more graphic than that.  So what have I been doing? Mowing – push mowing – my yard in the wonderful Texas heat!  Yep. It sucks. There’s no other thing to say about it (at least not that I would want in print associated with my name).  I try to convince myself it’s not that bad, and it usually works just long enough to get me out the door. Hey it’s excercise, right? That’s got to be a positive.  Just think of the work it takes to walk around this entire acre, and then I’m PUSHING the lawnmower, so that’s even more calories right? Oh and then there’s the heat…all that sweating has to be shedding some pounds, and the sun is good for my tan. Yes…that works for 2.2 seconds, and then I feel the heat and start pushing that lawnmower, and I want to SCREAM!  I don’t enjoy it. I don’t even kind of enjoy it. I detest it. If I could afford it I would have an astroturf yard.  Yes, the sponge would never need mowed. I’m not even opposed to one entire acre of concrete. I could paint it green. That would give it that domestic look right? I could even paint flowers or something.    And then Cameron would be able to ride her back and practice basketball under much better conditions.  I’m convinced…astroturf, concrete…it doesn’t matter.  Just something that doesn’t need mowed. (No, I am not PMSing, and I don’t need the progesterone my teenager has suggested. I just need a male friend who likes to volunteer to mow.)

There are other chores too that were always the “dad” chores (and later sometimes the “brother” chores) that I don’t enjoy. There’s taking out the trash, and then there’s picking up the trash after the neighborhood dogs come to visit. There’s feeding and watering the pets, and tilling up the garden. There’s also killing the bugs and spiders and washing the car, but I don’t mind any of these jobs as much as I don’t like to mow the yard.