by D.O. Foreman

Created on: January 30, 2007   Last Updated: April 25, 2007

I have been a single father, with sole legal custody, for 12 years now. 12 years ago there wasn't many members in this club, not that I knew of. But I was surprised by the attitude and prejudice of alot of people when dealing with circumstances relating to my son.
The biggest irritation, and I guess it is the biggest and first on the list because I tend to take it personally, is when people comment that my ex-wife must be a drug addict or some sort of freak because SHE doesn't have custody of our child. EXCUSE ME! I was 28 years old when I divorced. I had a three year old son who was the light of my life and I was determined to raise my son with this powerful love, to protect him from an often crazy world and teach him to care enough about that world to want to change it for the better. Maybe my ex-wife wasn't such a bad parent. Maybe, just maybe, I was that good of a father and our child's best option.

So, between daycare nightmares; my son getting Chickenpox so daycare wouldn't take him for two weeks - I lost my job over that one and fell into welfare. Oh yeah, he got the chickenpox at daycare -
To doing battle with school secretaries over registration; explaining to this person that no-one but me was to pick my child up from school and this secretary Telling me that I couldn't do that to the boy's mother if she wanted to pick him up, despite the fact that I have SOLE legal custody and that my ex-wife lives 7oo miles away. In fact, it angered this woman, this public school secretary, that I had custody of my own child. She became abusive and raised her voice to such an extent that my son began to cry! I had to grab the attention of the school principle and tell him that if he didn't put a leash on his employee, I was coming back with my attorney and a news crew from channel 2.
Twelve years down the road, my son is a sophomore in high-school, he is happy - as much as a teenager can be, and I am proud that maybe I just might have done something good for once, with my life, after a rough start of being the product of a
divorce myself. I'm not the greatest parent in the world, but going down this sometimes bumpy road together, my son and I have each other to hold onto when facing the challenges. Growing up can be tough. So can flying solo with-out a net. But my son knows I'll be there to catch him if he falls.

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