Empty Bed, Full Heart- A Single Mother's Journey

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store without my kids. This is not  a common occurrence, but I happened to have a few extra minutes between school and picking up my son, and since I hadn't been to the grocery store in about a month and we'd been living on jars of spaghetti sauce and canned green beans, I eagerly jumped at the opportunity. I blissfully (but not too blissfully. because I was still on a deadline), waltzed through the doors of the grocery store, a lilt in my step and joy in my heart. Woo-hoo! Milk and bread! It's the little things, truly. I walked into the store at the same time as another mother. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I had seen her walking up the hill to the store with her three children in tow, skipping happily along (the children were skipping. The mother was gently encouraging them not to fall off the curb into traffic.) They were probably all younger than 6; one maybe 2 or 3 and the other two looked closer in age, maybe 5 and 6, if tha...

It's spring! You can always tell it's springtime in North Dakota because people start wearing shorts. It will be 60 degrees out and someone (or maybe half a dozen someones) will be traipsing down main street in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. While this may seem insane to outsiders, most people in the Midwest understand that shorts are a harbinger of hope. We've just endured 9 months of bone chilling, frost-biting, witches teat cold and 60 degrees seems downright balmy. This year, our spring has been unusually warm, likely because global warming is definitely not a thing and just because it was 90 degrees out the first week in May doesn't mean that summer is going to be hot and miserable (but it probably will be). Because of this, virtual hordes of North Dakotans were walking around shirtless and summery, hands outstretched to the prairie sky in ecstasy. Not me. Is it because I am bitter and devoid of all hope? Is it because I was grouchy that my kids were runni...