A Single Mother’s Endless Love

By Alicia Harper of MommyDelicious.com

I was having one of those days. You know, the day where the three-year-old back talk and temper tantrums were at a maximum and my patience and understanding were at a minimum. In fact, all of the coping mechanisms and effective discipline strategies and Psychological Counseling training went out of the window and I was thisclose to pulling my hair out.

There’s no easy way to put this – Aiden was driving me crazy. I was counting down the hours till bedtime. Literally. And I was counting down the days till I would be on a sunny beach in Miami, Florida with my gals. Literally. I needed a mommy break and I needed a vacation, like yesterday.

My trip to Miami was perfection, but as much as I enjoyed my time with the gals, I missed Aiden. A lot. And as lovely and wonderful as the trip was, I was happy to get back to New York City and get back to my son.

My pregnancy was a surprise – the shock of my life. Literally. And life as an unmarried pregnant girl was no crystal stair. When Aiden was born, it took me a while to bond with him and learn how to swim instead of sink as a young mother. There were a lot of trials, but just as many triumphs, and I could not feel more blessed to be called this kid’s mother.

Aiden’s only three-years-old, but he has such an old soul. Sometimes he’ll say something so profound and so wise beyond his years that it leaves me baffled. It’s unfathomable and I’m like, “Gosh damn, did my son just utter those words?!”

Nobody challenges me more than Aiden. Nobody pushes me to work smarter and harder and aim higher. And nobody annoys me more than the kid, either. Nobody pushes my hot buttons more than him. He’s the only one who makes me clench my jaw as I’m talking when I’m pushed pass my limit and just want him to “Get. Over. Here. Right. Now.”

He’s the only one who makes me laugh till it hurts and cry as though the world’s going to end. When he’s sick, I feel sick; when he hurts, I hurt; when he’s happy, I’m frigging ecstatic. That’s just the way it is.

My love for Aiden is endless, limitless, and unconditional. There are no boundaries to it. The difficult, I’ll do for him. No hesitation. No questions asked. The impossible might take me some time to figure out, but best believe I’ll figure it out. And I’ll do it. In a New York minute.

We just came back from 10 days out of the country. We took a cruise around the southeastern Caribbean – Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Thomas. Then we stayed in San Juan, Puerto Rico for a couple of days after the cruise. In a nutshell, it was simply amazing.

Father or no father, this kid will have a lovely life. It won’t be perfect, because there may be a void that I won’t be able to fill, but I know in my heart that he’ll be just fine. Because I’m his mother and I’ll make sure of it.

Mark my words.