I also feel your pain. I too am single after a 30-year marriage ended. I have one trans-identified child who wants little to do with me and another who maintains distance in order to manage the sibling relationship. I had to declutter my life to fit my belongings into a small house, so I’ve only kept my favorite photos. I decided to fram…
I also feel your pain. I too am single after a 30-year marriage ended. I have one trans-identified child who wants little to do with me and another who maintains distance in order to manage the sibling relationship. I had to declutter my life to fit my belongings into a small house, so I’ve only kept my favorite photos. I decided to frame the ones that show my kids as I remember them at their best – when they were happy teenagers, involved in sports and music and not so obsessed with their identity or consumed with pessimism about the world. I posted them in a prominent place where I can pause to think hopeful thoughts about them before I leave for work every day.
It’s very hard to feel you don’t have a family any more. I would give anything to feel a sense of belonging to a family again, to have a place to spend Sunday afternoons or to go for Christmas, surrounded by grandparents, cousins, and my own kids. Twenty years ago I had no idea this was the future that awaited me. Most of my friends are still married and have younger children, and they have no idea what kind of culture their kids will be graduating into.
I also feel your pain. I too am single after a 30-year marriage ended. I have one trans-identified child who wants little to do with me and another who maintains distance in order to manage the sibling relationship. I had to declutter my life to fit my belongings into a small house, so I’ve only kept my favorite photos. I decided to frame the ones that show my kids as I remember them at their best – when they were happy teenagers, involved in sports and music and not so obsessed with their identity or consumed with pessimism about the world. I posted them in a prominent place where I can pause to think hopeful thoughts about them before I leave for work every day.
It’s very hard to feel you don’t have a family any more. I would give anything to feel a sense of belonging to a family again, to have a place to spend Sunday afternoons or to go for Christmas, surrounded by grandparents, cousins, and my own kids. Twenty years ago I had no idea this was the future that awaited me. Most of my friends are still married and have younger children, and they have no idea what kind of culture their kids will be graduating into.