You know those parents that are blessed to have their kids around them all of the time or at least get to spend all of the Holidays with them? Get to vacation with their kids, tons of photos on Facebook showing off all the visits and such? Well, I’m not one of those parents.
For years and years I have had to sit back and watch my kids with their dad and his wife, her family with my kids enjoying all of their holiday visits and summer vacations. I always told myself it was good. my kids got to have a decent life. They were happy.
Then one day I realize, yes, they visit dad because dads married into money. Her family has money. They pay for all of the kids to make the trips, pay for everything. I do not have money, did not marry into it and cannot afford to pay for anything. Therefor, i never get to see my kids, never get to have any visits, make any memories. Instead, i am an embarrassment. Haven’t met the spouses or significant others. Heck, haven’t even seen two of my kiddos in so many years I fear I may never. All I ever wanted was for them to be happy and have a fair chance at having a decent life. To protect them from everything I had endured. If that means I am the bad guy, the embarrassment, So be it.
I see all of the posts on facebook even though they try to keep them from me.
Hey mom, miss you, wish we could visit.
why don’t you all come visit your mom for Christmas or Thanksgiving or just for the heck of it?
I wish we could, we have to work, we cant afford the trip. etc….
I have myself and my three youngest children that live nearby or semi-nearby but even two of them want nothing to do with me. Sure, it hurts like hell but I just want them to have so much more than I ever had. I can’t change where I came from but I am changing who I am.
Let me tell you, if you were born with nothing, have kids too young, don’t make something of yourself early on or marry into money and the other parent does, you are FUCKED!
I lost my kids early on to their father because after we split, he found other women to play mom. I was 17 yrs. old, had absolutely no support system what so ever. My kids never know nor will they ever know the truth of why Mom isn’t mom and dads wife is. They will never know of my struggles or pain, of how hard I tried to make things right, I followed the law and the law sided with the money. I never stopped trying but my kids never saw it, all they saw was the aftermath.
Then I had three more kids, I had no business having children, I was what some would call “unfortunate”, others might call, “trash”. Yes, I knew what birth control was and I used it, it failed me. I do not regret this one bit.
I just wish the pain wasn’t constant. From the time I was born, I endured life. Things most people go their entire lives never knowing and some know all too well, I suffered and endured all of it. you know those people that tell you stories about their life and you’re like, “that was such bullshit”? That’s me. what people don’t realize, is that those stories are not bullshit and this shit really did happen to me.
Now, as I have gotten older, i sit and look back and all I can think is “WOW, How did I make it through all of that? How am i still here?” Seriously, I want to know.
Imagine, just for a moment, close your eyes and really try to imagine having six children, back to back from the age of 17 to to 25 with only a short break between the sets of three. Just imagine all of the stress, diapers, crying, lack of money, lack of education. You came from nothing and you have nothing. The dad was never really present except for the conception of them. ( I know, what was she thinking, having so many kids? She had no business) Yes, that would be correct. I fell victim to circumstance. I was a literal statistic.
Abused from a young age and spent my life allowing it to happen as though it were normal. I really did not know any better. I understand everything so much better now. However, now, its too late. (oh yeah, it’s never too late, right?) Wrong. The damage has been done and I didn’t wake up, wise up, (whatever you want to call it) until my life was half over. Mostly, that is because I had zero self worth, zero self esteem and zero support system. No one told me that life didn’t have to be like that. I did not know. Yes, I am doing something about it now.
I still struggle with the self worth from time to time, still fall prey to vampires of all sorts but I know that is just collateral damage, lingering residue of aftermath. I fight to remind myself, to reassure myself and to pick myself up and keep going. Even to this day,
I am looked down on, judged, etc… But I don’t let it bother me near as much because I know how far I have come. Sure, it still hurts, still makes me feel like trash on some days. Those days are hard to get out of bed, but I do.
I thought I knew why I was fighting to get out of bed each day for but I have realized, It was for all the wrong reasons, not anymore. Now I do it for me. My kids are all grown and moved on. I rarely get to see any of them. I work my butt off to make money to save up so I can at least leave my children something when I am gone but i can barely make enough to pay the bills and survive. I just cannot get ahead. Still, I wake up, and tell myself, “move your ass, today will be a good day”. then I start all over again. Yes, I break down daily, think about my children daily, cry daily and realize I am completely alone, daily but something, I have no idea what it is but something makes me keep going. Some days I want to give up so badly but I am not wired to give up and let me tell you , sometimes, that really pisses me off because some days i want to just give up.
While I have come a long, long way, not just in life but myself, my emotional and mental self, I still have much work to do to become someone I can be proud of, someone I can not just love but also like. I have given up on trying to please others, trying to make others happy. That is an impossible task and not worth wasting my time or my life on. I want to be happy, I like the person I am becoming. So that is where I am now.