Hi! New here and introducing myself
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| Tue, 07-24-2007 - 9:56am |
I've been lurking on this board for a couple of weeks and I'm finally breaking through to introduce myself. I'm a 37 year old single mom of 2 awesome children (ages 9 and 11). I've been separated(almost divorced) for a little over a year and half and had been in a serious relationship for a little over a year that just ended about a month ago. He was basically one of the first men I went out with after my H an I split up so technically I haven't done the "dating" thing yet....just jumped right into another relationship. Although it didn't work out, it was a good experience. He was 40 and had never been married and didn't have kids and in the end it just wasn't going to work out. I believe that everyone comes into our lives for a reason, good or bad, and I actually grew a lot during this past year and it was a great learning experience for me.
So here I am! I think it'll still be a little while before I start dating again, but I'm getting geared up for it. To be honest, I'm a little panicked because I've never really been single for a long period of time, but I think this will be good for me and I can use this time to really get to know me and find out what I'm truly looking for in a partner. Reading about your experiences has been encouraging. My friends want me to do the online thing, but I'm not quite ready for that. Soon, maybe (watch, I'll probably have a profile up this weekend :-)
Anyway, thanks for reading this. I'm excited to be on this board and will hopefully be sharing some of my experiences with you soon. I'm not very good at this, so I'll probably be asking for tons of advice and feedback. Hopefully I can do the same for you too.

Hi and welcome to the board! This is definitely a great board!
I think you are right in not dating for a while to find yourself. You need to make sure you know what YOU want and not someone else. It gets hard at times to be by yourself but in the end it is a good experience. :) I've been single for 4 years now and I have my ups and downs naturally.
I wish you luck and glad you could join us! :)
Jennifer
Welcome! I haven't really done the "dating" thing yet either.... I just jumped right into another relationship too- which worries me from time to time - with a 40-something who's never been married and doesn't have kids. I wouldn't say that my guy and I are extremely serious because we don't talk about the future. However, we are exclusive, talk multiple times daily, spend most of our free time together - including time with family and friends - and we are having a blast! It's working for me right now - so I don't want to "fix" it if it ain't "broken".
I'm 32 - was married for 10 years - been separated for 2 years - legally divorced for almost 6 months - have two wonderful kids ages 9 and 3 - shared parenting going really well given our circumstances (ex is a poor communicator; ex-MIL from HELL; and very immature OW with whom my ex also has a toddler) I recently refinanced MY house and I've been busy painting and redecorating it to make it my own.
Welcome, welcome, welcome!
doing the welcome dance for you! Glad you can join our board! We have had a few newbies lately! It's always great to see someone give their own advice and experience on the board. As you will see, mine can get hilarious!
Hugs, hugs,
Catherine
Welcome! It sounds like you are in a good place in your life. That is a wonderful place to be! I am fairly new to the whole "single Mom" thing so this board has been a great source of info and stress relief for me. Happy to have you join us!
Rose
Welcome! I just de-lurked today, but wanted to say hello to you as a fellow newbie. LOL!
Nice to meet you! :)
~Nicole
Thanks for all the warm welcomes! I'm happy to be here too.
Mom2maggie-Your situation sounds a little like mine (except for the break-up). Was married for 12 years, seperated for almost 2 years, and I also share custody with my X pretty much 50/50. With this recent relationship we were serious and exclusive and pretty much spent most of the time I wasn't with the kids together, but it just came to a turning point with him regarding either getting married or breaking-up. I would have been fine just keeping things going along and having fun, but I'm not ready to get re-married just yet. Anyways, sounds like you have a good thing going!
Catherine-Yes, I've read a lot of your stories and they are hilarious! You seem to have this dating thing down. I love your attitude and you seem to have a good, strong head on your shoulders.
Nicole-Welcome yourself! I'm glad I have some newbies to share this whole experience with.
Hi.
I'm Jeannie, a reappearing old timer from the days that ivillage had a board called Dating as a Single Parent. I've been divorced since pregnant with my youngest who is 12. Two boys are grown and on their own. I'm 39. I've had an on and off sorta LTR that grew from a friendship and ended as friends, but he periodically abuses the friendship and I do a time out. My second LTR grew from a friendship that was decidedly deceptive on his part from the begininng. I forgave and rebuilt a friendship that ended up having no real reason for being. I very recently just disppeared from both *friendships*. I've been discreetly quasi dating a man for about two years now. We both had lives at the time that just weren't compatible for us to couple up, with anyone, much less, each other. We liked each other but weren't interested in dating. So we became friends. So now we are talking about actual dating. Other than a few nowhere dates with other men, this is it for my "dating" experience. I've been pretty much on my own, but never alone, all of my life.
In this web community, during some of the roughest times of my life, I found enormous support. Welcome, you'll find everyone here has a lot in common with you but there will be enough points of view to keep you thinking and growing.
Jeannie