My mom was always a single mom, even when she was married.
My earliest memories are of her in the kitchen cooking dinner, shivering with me as we waited for the school bus on a cold morning, and her ability to find time for me no matter how many shifts she worked that day.
I asked my mom, who is 71 years old, retired and living in Florida, if she has a wanderer’s heart or feels more of a need for stability. My mom and I have a close relationship and we talk most mornings. I’m able to ask her silly questions like that. She never seems to mind.
She paused, taking the time to collect her thoughts and told me that she believed she was a combination of both. During my entire childhood, she chose stability. She was the rock in a tumultuous childhood. She always provided the roof over my head, the food in my belly and the shoes on my feet, even if that meant working overtime to buy me sneakers for track practice. She had high standards for behavior and grades. She gently and firmly enforced them to guide me become a self-sufficient, compassionate adult with a solid work ethic and honest nature.
My father has a wanderer’s heart. He moved us every two or three years until I was 12. My mom put an end to that and once…
