Dr. Laura:
When I was six, my father passed away unexpectedly, leaving my mother a young widow with three small children to care for. Though I know she was in pain herself, she focused all her energy on taking care of her children. She worked because she had to, but was always there for us when we got off the bus from school and always left work the second we needed her. She didn't date or bring strange men into the house. She put her personal life on hold to devote herself unselfishly to her children. When I got older, she told me that she had had a friend who lost her father at a young age and she always felt she lost her mother at the same time because the mother became so consumed with finding a new husband. My mother never wanted us to feel that way, and we never did.
I'm now 31 and happily married and appreciate the importance of being a mother to my future children, and of showing them how much I love their father no matter what happens. I owe that entirely to my mother's example and your daily words of advice. Thank you for encouraging parents to remain single whether widowed or divorced while they raise their children. Every time I hear a parent say that they don't think a new man and new "brothers and sisters" will affect their children, I want to shake them! Children's emotions are so complex and often hidden from their parents, but they observe and understand and learn from everything that goes on in the house. I'm glad that you verbally "shake" these parents for me!
Forever appreciative of your work,
Olivia
