Angelique had never really known her father. He had deserted her mother for his homosexual lover when Angelique was just a toddler. But it often pained her when she saw other children's fathers at their birthday parties or picking them up after school. "Why doesn't my daddy ever come to see me?" she asked her mother. Her mother looked down...

One evening, shortly after Richard and I married, he settled into his lounge chair to read - oblivious to my 14-year-old daughter's piercing scowl and clenched fist as she stomped into the bedroom. But he heard her words. Melanie flung her body face down onto my bed, muttering, "It's not fair, Mother! Richard is sitting where my dad is supposed to...

Sharing custody of our two little girls was unbearable. I longed for my daughters' presence in my life. Watching cartoons while lying on the floor, fetching 100 drinks of water at bedtime, hugs, kisses, exploring bugs, and making messes, were no longer taken for granted. One morning I stared at the green numbers on my alarm clock and got up...

Last night, while going through an old box of pictures of my children in their growing up years, I reviewed the seasons of change that we have all gone through. The baby pictures, school year pictures, and works of art made for me for Mother's Day, my birthday and other holidays warm my heart even more now. My youngest daughter graduated from...

The coping strategies in this article come from Michele's interviews from single moms who've "been there" and found ways to work through the brokenness and live in hope. 1. Grieve in order to heal. Every Friday before dinner, newly-single mother Rebekah instituted a "crying time". Rebekah and her children vented frustrations and even cried...