Sunday, September 20, 2009

Punctuated Motherhood

Single-mother.

Yeah, there’s a hyphen up there.

That makes all the difference.

In grammar, a hyphen is used to connect two words with opposing meanings like:

Low-fat.
Ugly-pretty.

And yes, single-mother.

Because in reality, how do you live like a single person and as a mother?

Well, if you’re like me, you live a double life.

You have twice as many roles, twice as many responsibilities and twice as many clothes.
The skirts that defy gravity along with the gorgeous 3 inch torture chambers that try to blithely pass themselves off as shoes for work.

And the toddler-proof jeans and sneakers – the only thing that will allow me to run after that little ball of energy who is also known as Kiddo…and the love of my life.

Hyphens are also known to bind words that don’t make sense alone and give it meaning; words like --


Fuddy-duddy
Topsy-turvey.
Dilly-dally.

And yes, single-mother.

Because in the reality of my life, those words don’t make sense until they’re put together into my one person…albeit precariously held together by a hyphen.

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