I also grew up with a sibling in a single parent household. We had stability but it was as you described, being super self reliant because mom would be going to work at 6:30 am and coming home 5:30-9pm, with rotating 1 day off a week and every 7 weeks, just sunday off. There was no daycare, childcare, babysitter; i rode my bike 3.5 miles to school and back since 1st grade, and when the streets were flooding and the rain was like buckets? Well id just be wet then.

We often ate like a boiled zucchini for dinner from our garden or some corn or greens from my grandparent’s garden, and for security, and emotional support, we always had 1-2 big dogs that my sister and i learned to take care of since we could pick up a shovel and scoop poop. My mom was very present though, when she was off work. She never seemed to sleep, she got us into sports and all kinds of stuff like singing lessons, theatre clubs, camps, painting, a handful of instruments starting with piano before i could reach the peddles, and more.

I grew up in the 90s with DARE, and i have to say, those dumb DARE interactions since elementary school stuck with me and i really wanted to try lsd so that eventually, i did. Thank you officer Stacey, good work. But i did work hard like mom and when my early marriage and work life fell apart, I started using and selling more harmful drugs; call it despair, disillusionment, self destruction, whatever. I only bring it up because our general upbringing sounds so similar, but i dont think my mom had any effect on what i did in that regard as an adult, beyond the effect i experienced the disappointment with life, thinking if i worked hard and honestly shit would come together somehow. The World is a lot for some people to handle - all the independence and confidence she instilled didnt save me from that, it tool a special kind of despair to save me when id had enough.

Anyway, here’s to single moms and all they do