Writings by me

It’s January and I’m in a reflective mood.

One of the hardest things to reconcile myself to in this life of ‘mumming,’ is embracing support from others without feeling that accepting support is a symbol of my own failure to be enough. Never has this been more true than the last year of my life.

Looking back over the last year, one of the most important things that got me through the heartbreak and pain of my marriage separation, was my ‘mumming’ support network. From mums on the school run, to my closest mum friends, to my fellow Lemon-Aiders and readers, this is a thank you to you.

I’ve had it all; days spent commiserating in warm, comforting houses, mulling over what went wrong endlessly, crying into hot drinks, firm talks from others about getting a grip on the practicalities and awkwardly lingering at friends’ houses trying to fill my suddenly empty weekends.

There’s also the mums that are willing to leave their warm houses and snuggly kids, to mull over it all again, over a pint or three. And the ones that go for coffee with you after every school run, while gently reminding you that perhaps you need to tighten the purse strings a little.

All of this reaffirms for me that one simple truth about parenting; we cannot do this alone. That if we try to, there’s going to be an army of mums that won’t let you. If nothing else in this mumming game brings you comfort, let that be the thing that does.

Things are moving forward as they always do. There is now light at the end of the tunnel, whatever happens. Most importantly I know that I can face it and that whatever happens to our family of four, my support network has got me.