S.O.S.

We've all read them. You know, the "happily ever after" stories. It's so interesting to me that once the prince and princess are married that the rest is guaranteed. I suspect that I'm not the only one who expected that to be true in real life.

But, here I am. I am a single mom of four children under 12. And I am feeling the pressure. I sense a great weight on my shoulders. How will I make it financially? How will I raise them all by myself? How do a teach a boy to be a man? It is a great responsibility. There are times when I wish I had someone to share the burden.

Our church service this week was at the airport, well not in the airport exactly. It was at a hotel at the airport though. I don't know if you've ever been to DFW, but it is practically its own city. I hate driving to DFW. But, that's where church was. So I loaded us all up in the car and headed out.

We made it okay. But then we had to park in the garage. I have a lousy sense of direction and often have trouble relocating my car after I park it in a big parking garage. I took note of my parking place number. I made sure to notice which level we were on. When I walked into the hotel I tried to pay close attention to where we came in so that we could leave through the same door. But all the while I knew that when the time came to leave I would feel uncertain about where to go.

As we sat in service in a giant hotel ballroom I noticed that I kept looking towards the door as if I were waiting for someone. My children were all accounted for and I'd seen most of my friends already. There was no one to look for really. Eventually, I realized that I was looking for a rescuer. It's almost as if I expected the right man to walk through that door any minute. And he would know exactly where we had parked. He would be happy to navigate us out of the airport heading in the right direction. And he would even drive. He would help make the decision about what to do for lunch. And he would be perfectly happy to carry the exhausted three-year-old to the car.

I watched the door for a while, but he never came in. I'm not sure I would have recognized him even if he had. So, we left church. And, yes, I had trouble figuring out which of the doors to the parking garage was the correct one. And I wasn't sure I was in the right place until I actually saw my car. I turned off the radio and told my kids to be quiet so I could concentrate on our way out of the airport in order to make sure I ended up going in the right direction.

But, we made it home.

There are things that really scare me about being a single mom. But, somehow I manage to get through them anyway. Still, there are times when it would be nice to have a man around.

Do you know anyone who knows how to put together a bunk bed?