I was watching a news program, might have been Frontline, might have been one of the other networks. It was a long and detailed story about the deterioration of two teenaged daughters after their parents divorce and the mother's move to a new state. Their unhappiness at being distant from their father was manifested in lots of rebellion and pushing boundaries and more and more risky behavior.

As much as I want to raise my kids in a better place than Texas, I had to recognize that being near their father was much more important than living in the better climate and nearer my family. I've said it before on other threads--you have to put your kids first if you want them to be happy and have as good a chance as possible to get the support they want when they need it. Trying to add a new partner to this is more than I'm willing to attempt, and as I said before in this thread, I'm not looking. But since I decided I'm not looking there are occasionally men turn up who express interest. So far none has gotten past my remark that I'm a single mom raising teenagers who works full time and is in graduate school.

SRS