At the end of last month’s article I said that I would let you know how my two swims went.  Well, I made it around the Busselton jetty without so much as a nibble from any marine life.  It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fast, but I made it.  My friend wasn’t so lucky.  She received a couple of nasty lashings from some jellyfish in a place where you really don’t want to receive a couple of nasty lashings from some jellyfish.  The Rottnest swim, however, as some of you have probably heard, was cancelled.  All of that training!  I was sooooo planning to never have to see the bottom of a swimming pool again and now, because of some compulsion to say that I’ve done it, I’m going to have to do it all again next year.  But enough about the swimming . . .

This month’s article is my salute to single mums.  I have recently become a single mum.  Okay, it’s only for 15 days so it’s not as dramatic as it sounds.  However, my relatively short experience has given me a glimpse into the world of the solo parent.  Before I go on, lest anyone be tempted to feel sorry for me, I do have another confession to make – I am currently living at my parents’ house.  I do this whenever my husband goes away.  So yes, I probably do have a little more support than the average single mum but nevertheless my experience has given me enough of an insight to be able to appreciate what an enormously difficult task it is to be a real single mum.  To all you single mums; I for one think you are amazing.

Below is a poem I came across that I think poignantly depicts the life of the single mum.

Ode to Single Mothers

She's fixer of sinks
and drier of tears
Anxious, yet valiant
allayer of fears.

She works a full day
Commutes home, and then
She works another
full-time job, again.

She's master accountant
and counsellor, too
She sets aside worries
to listen to you.

There's laundry and cooking
and cleaning to do.
Homework, then bath time
A story or two.

She's finder of toys
And righter of wrongs.
She's busy. She's tired.
She's lonely. She's strong.

When the day is done,
The kids safely in bed,
No energy's left
for the thoughts in her head.

She turns them all off
along with the lights.
Crawls under covers –
Gives in to the night.

Before the rise of the sun
She be up and back to it.
There's no other option
No one else to do it.

If you, too, know this woman
(she goes by many names)
Applaud her, she belongs to
no ascribed hall of fame.

But a tacit sisterhood,
Arduous like no other,
Of extraordinary women
Also know as the Single Mother.

Written by Tamara Sue Appelman


So, if you are a single mum out there, be encouraged.  You are doing an awesome job.  You probably don’t feel as though you are doing an awesome job but the very fact that you are in there doing it and you haven’t run away from your children screaming like a crazy woman, means you are doing a great job.  If you are reading this and you’re not a single mum but you know one, tell her she’s doing a good job.  It’s amazing how much difference a few small word of encouragement can make.


Til next time,
Dale