My 30's

Single Soccer Mom

I am a divorced mother of a 4 year old boy, just entering my thirties. I work full time in the Financial Industry and live happily in the suburbs.  My ex-husband and I separated when he was 2 years old and finally got the divorce papers finalized last year. 

Needless to say, the change has been a difficult one for both my son and I to deal with.  We each take things day by day, as only you can sometimes. Things are definitely much easier now, than they were a couple of years ago…now that we both have our routine down.

My number goal in life is to make sure he understands that the change in his life was not his fault and that he understands there will always be someone there to take care of him and be there for him.  I am also trying to help my son deal with his emotions by teaching him to communicate them and know that it’s okay to feel that way.  I always encourage his relationship with his father, who is still a big part of his life, and make sure to always talk positively about him.

Three great books definitely helped me through my transition. I suggest anyone going through the same situation read each one cover to cover!

“Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay” – by Mira Kirshenbaum

“Good Parenting through Your Divorce” – by Mary Ellen Hannibal

“The No-Cry Discipline Solution” – by Elizabeth Pantley

Working full time and living a with a messy preschooler doesn’t leave a lot of time for personal or alone time, as you can imagine, but his time spent with his father can sometimes be a nice respite.  It is still hard though, since as a mother, you always miss them when they are gone. 

Mythirties.net

While celebrating my 31st birthday with friends, I looked around and realized that our thirties have been so different from our twenties.  In our twenties, everyone was just graduating college and starting their careers.  We were still balancing work with our pre-graduation partying ways and living paycheck to paycheck, waiting for the next Thursday and Friday night outing.

Our late twenties were not much different, except maybe now a few were married.

Something happened when we crossed the invisible line of our third decade.  We entered this social gray zone, where friends’ lives no longer mirror each other.  Were are all still the same people and still great friends, but we all now led such separate and different lives.

Some of us are still living in our twenties.  Others are dealing with custody battles and divorce lawyers.  While others seem to be living in a Rockwell painting.

I began thinking about how strange it was that we were all on such different pages in life.  It seemed odd that peoples lives realigned and mirrored each other once again in the 40′s and 50′s.  What’s so different about our 30′s?

As a Single Mom, I never thought I would be writing a blog, let alone interested in being part of a blogging community.  I have always been the last to catch on to any type of technology.  To demonstrate that point, I will share that I do not own, nor ever want to own, any of the following:

• iPhone
• iPod
• any type of gaming console
• bluetooth anything
• and barely know how to use my work BlackBerry

Feeling a need for change in life, I decided to give this whole blog thing a try.  Hope you enjoy My 30′s, as well as yours!

Feel free to contact me at singlesoccermom@mythirties.net