My Two Loves

Divorce is really hard. Everybody knows that. Divorce when you have a child, and dealing with all that implies for you and your child for the REST OF YOUR LIFE-that's about a million times harder. I knew it was going to be tough. I think any single mama who has to deal with sending your very young child off, even if it is with their father, for any extended period of time, understands the sadness and anxiety of that.

What I personally hadn't expected, however, was how hard my having a new relationship would be for my child. I didn't have divorced parents; none of friends did. None of my friends were divorced and trying to date again or forge a new relationship with kids. No one gave me any warning about what to expect here.

Bruce and I, as a couple, always just seemed so easy and so natural and so perfect. Of course, I know there were some adjustments on Bruce's part to being in a relationship with someone who is already a mother, but he's never been anything but amazing to my daughter. My daughter, on the other hand, wasn't always as supportive of my relationship with Bruce. 

For a very long time, my daughter had had almost all of my attention, almost all of the time. It was me and her, a team against the world, doing everything just the two of us. I never dated a whole lot after my divorce and certainly no one who ever met my daughter, until Bruce came along. It was several months even before they were introduced, but then suddenly there were three of us, and someone else who Mommy loved and who also wanted and needed her time and attention. Allie was not always okay with that. She was always pretty vocal too about how she felt about Bruce. It was difficult at times, but we've made it through, and I think that Allie loves Bruce very much now.  

So, with all that being sad, it made my heart happy to get out of the shower this morning and come back into our room to find this....

Having the two people you love the most in the world love each other is a wonderful thing.