Story of a real single mom who has been sacrificed and survived throughout the years...
(The story was submitted to us and she would like to be anonymous because of her living children.)

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       Sometimes, and more often than not from my observations over the years after becoming a single Mom: Many children act a great deal like the father, even when they don't know him.  If he was nice it is great if not, no matter how kind you are to them, no matter the sacrifices, no matter the hopes and time you share and all the "give ups" for them, they turn out like the father and it can be extremely painful.

       I married my husband thinking he was this wonderful man and his family was wonderful.  The day we married he threw me into a telephone booth and told me to get some money back from my elderly grandmother, the only person to be able to attend my marriage.  Things never got better better but I would go to church each week and hear the forgiveness speech and I would try again and hope again.  Then one day after we had 4 homes I had bought and earned and he would not put in one penny on, he told me I was a very nice woman but he did not want my money anymore and that I should stay and have fun with him...I wanted to go home.  I had gone to where he was working at the time to plan on our move there and he took me to the airport and left.  He had cancelled my tickets and maxed out the credit cards and then he called my children and told them I had asked for a divorce.

       This last Sunday I went to church and they talked about if you keep on being kind someday the spouse would turn around and be kind.....my church leader where I used to live said it was my fault I went through so much pain.  I should've gotten out sooner!

       Anyway, after the divorce I spent what money I could on my children.  I didn't date for 10 years.  I got them through school, helped them with expensive dates and trips and did without so they could go and do.  Their father remarried and they loved her because as they put it, they didn't have to care for his welfare and so she saved them a lot of work and money.  I slept out in cars so my daughter could have medical money when she needed it.  They would borrow money from me, get money from me and unbeknownst to me they would go and visit him. Do you think he would spend money on them??? Not on your life!  He made them sleep on the floor when they went to see him and spent the child support payments he refused to send when they went to see him on his wife and him and didn't use it on them! I slept on the floor because we didn't have money for beds for all of us!

       I got laid off in 2001 and my son invited me up to stay with him and his wife in Oregon.  I thought he was so kind.  But I didn't get work in one month and so he shut the heat down all day long and it was winter.  I was using his computer and I should've gotten work in one month let alone two months so he yelled at me and told me I had to fast and made me eat over the sink because I might drop something and he checked for prints when he got home and he kept tabs on every move I made and told me I looked old...I was!  I was 57.  So I gave up and left and went to my Mother's to care for her and she was mad if I didn't jump and put dishes where she wanted even though I did the cooking and wanted me to count the time I was gone when I went shopping and accused me of going out to bars when they went to bed at 6PM and wanted me to go to bed at 6PM and get up at 5 in the morning like they did.  It got so I could not even go to Church for two hours....but that is my Mom....so I left and My daughter couldn't understand why I could not take care of her errands and her child and clean the house and look for work all at the same time and they would pick and pick till I could not even remember my own name and would pray for sleep.  So I left in the middle of getting interviews because I couldn't get to them and be ok to think clearly for an interview and while I have always bought Christmas ahead of time and gave them gifts that I had bought 2 and 3 years in advance, they said I was spending money I had no right to spend and I must have money to live on my own or I could not give them gifts.  I left.