Bobbie Blodgett

When I took the job as a bartender, it became like therapy. I was working with other single mom's and the relationships that I had established, became very valuable to me. I was very shy and had to quickly learn to overcome my shyness, by having to talk to people. The Casino that I worked at served food, had gaming machines, a Bowling Center, live Poker and Simulcast Racing. I got to meet a variety of people, from all walks of life. My son's father was with the woman that he later married and had another child with, he quickly pushed my son aside and excluded him from his life. I was not going to let him off the hook for paying child support, it was the least that he could do for my son. I had to fight for it every step of the way, with the help of the Child Support Enforcement division. My mother had decided that I needed to start dating again and that she wanted 'grandma time'. We worked out an agreement, that she would keep my kids every Friday night and all day...

At my sons high school graduation, I did the typical mom thing, I took a walk down memory lane. The memories of all of the battles, for twelve years of getting my youngest child through school, were flooding through my mind. I was feeling very emotional and teary eyed. No more battles over homework, it was the final page to his book of  his school days. When the graduating class entered the gymnasium, I had realized, that with no plan what so ever, the dress I was wearing had almost matched the shade of blue as the graduates gowns.  It was at that moment the reality sank in, in a way I was graduating as well, from being a single mom. It was my personal moment of victory.  I decided to share my story with my readers, by doing so, if I can inspire any other single parent, then I guess I have paid it forward some way, by writing about it.  I was twenty years old when I got pregnant with my daughter and no I was not married, or with the father. I was as ...