Darlene

What is it like to be a single parent?

It was hard raising two daughters. However, I had a lot of help from my family and my community, so we made it through it.

Tell me about your happy moments/triumphs.

I would say the happiest moments are of course their births, their graduations from high school, and their graduations from college. Those were all happy times and seeing them prosper and grow into the women that they are today.

Tell me about your struggles and/or sacrifices.

Time is always an issue. There's never enough time. A lot of the things that I wanted to do had to wait until they were grown or old enough at least to do things on their own. It was all a sacrifice, but it was worth every bit of it.

Do you have any advice for parents in general?

It ain't easy but just do your best. You're not perfect. There's no perfect parent. You’re going to make mistakes, but you learn from your mistakes and grow from your mistakes. You just keep pushing, keep trying, and you'll make it.

Describe being a single parent in one word.

Hard. I mean it's hard, but it's worth it.