Sometimes, I can scarcely remember what it was like to be married to the ex. Other times, the memories of the misery hit me full force. Today is one of the days I remember the past vividly!
When I was with the good ol’ ex, I remember feeling like a housemaid seven days a week, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. If I wasn’t at work actually working, I was taking care of our son, dropping him off at daycare or school, picking him up and bringing him to his activities, helping with homework, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the yard, paying bills, etc.
Each day was packed with activities (few of them fun) morning, noon and night. On an average day, this was my schedule:
1. Wake up at 6:15 and take a shower.
2. Get son ready for school.
3. Drop off at before-care by 7:15AM.
4. Drive to work in traffic.
5. During 45-minute lunch, complete errands at breakneck pace.
6. Leave work at 4:00 and pick son up from aftercare at 4:45.
7. Race home for a quick dinner before baseball, karate, etc.
8. If no after-school activities, do yardwork, bill paying, or shopping.
9. Come home in the evening and help son finish up homework.
10. Get son ready for bed.
11. f I was taking classes, complete schoolwork.
12. Then - laundry, vacuuming, and cleaning up ex’s messes (you’ve never seen messes like these).
13. Collapse into bed.
14. Wake up at 2:30AM when spouse comes in…try to get back to sleep.
Needless to say, I felt like hired help without any of the perks or pay. Sure ex liked to shop and he’d occasionally fix something or rake some leaves, but those occasions were few and far in between. While he dined out, played poker, shopped, went to movies, and took off on long weekends with his buddies, I basically worked my ass off all the time.