"At Least You Have Your Kids"

So...more and more I am realizing that I am alone. I am lonely.
I don't have a partner, a spouse, a confidant, etc. blah blah...
(quit yer complainin', I hear you say)

Ok, Ok. When good friends ask how I am doing, I share that I am adjusting to being alone. What really erks me is some people's response:
"Well, at least you have your kids."

What? Like my children are the consolation prize for not having a husband? Like they can somehow fill that void that I have for a partner and a best friend. I firmly believe that your children should never be your best friends. I am sorry, but those women out there who claim that their 16-year old daughter is "my very best friend" are very sad indeed. Really??? You share everything, you tell her everything? I don't think that's healthy or normal.

Granted, I do believe that when children are adults that it is fine to be friends with them. But best friends? I still cringe when I hear my mother talk about anyhthing sexual and my dad in the same sentence. There is a line you just don't cross, and when your children are your very best friends, you've crossed a line that is unhealthy.

Don't get me wrong. I love my kids. I have unconditional love for them and think they are the best kids in the whole wide world. But that doesn't mean that they can hold the place of another relationship. Nor would I want them to feel that way. Then one day (God willing) when I fall in love, and find a partner, my poor kids would feel pushed aside, since they were holding that spot for me.

For the time being, there is a little vacant place in my heart. But it's ok for it to be vacant. Yes, at least I do have my kids, but they have been and always will hold their own special place in my heart.