Mommy Diaries: Life of a Single Mom

I am writing this post the night before it’s due because it wouldn’t be a true reflection of my life had I completed it any sooner. I am single mother to a ferocious brilliant firecracker of a six year old who challenges me with more than I ever realized I had the capacity to handle.

 

 

I write this as he sits beside me, refusing to go to bed.  I write this at the end of an exhausting day where he stayed home with me while I worked because it was his first day on the new kind of medication he is taking.  

I write this because he has unleashed a level of attitude I have not been prepared for. And I write this, because as parents we are in this together.

 

My name is Jodi and I am a mother, a baker, a chef, a yogi, a teacher, and a working professional.  Sometimes, rarely, I am the person I was before I had a child.   I am trying to define what “I”  looks like now with so much of myself dedicated to so many different  roles to act out. 

 

 

 

I am blessed to work from home and make my own hours working for a non profit organization providing homestay opportunities for international students studying in Saskatoon. I also teach yoga, it’s my passion, my fitness and quite frankly my mental health medicine.

 

 

 

 

I have a penchant for cakes and bake to my heart’s content in my tiny kitchen, making pretty things that taste divine. Sometimes this is my side hustle for a little extra money.

 

I also love to cook and before I had my son I was obsessed with reading about Le Cordon Bleu in France, but not obsessed enough to incur more student loans after having just paid them off from university. Now I cook to create warmth and social connections around our dinner table, often inviting friends to stay and join us for a meal.

 

 

 

My sweet boy was diagnosed with ADHD, it’s been a long road with beautiful supportive friends holding me up, opinionated educators judging me loudly for not doing enough, and health care providers commending me for all that I have done. This world of parenting has taught me to use my voice, and it took a long time to use it loudly, to advocate for my child, to love him through tears (both his and my own), and to embrace new paths where I was nervous to take them.

 

We have started a new school, we are becoming a part of a new community and we have been welcomed and supported in our new adventure.

 

 

 

Sometimes I get grouchy, I cry, I complain and feel as though I can’t possibly take another day. Sometimes I float, I get my hair done, I have coffee with a friend, I go to a sweaty yoga class, I drink a glass of red wine, and I watch This Is Us so I can cry just a little bit more. My life is messy, it’s beautiful, it’s blessed.  My life is with a sweet six year old boy who is always in my arms when I need a hug and a kiss.