When my daughter was 7 months old, her father and I split up. He left the country — without saying goodbye, I might add — to start a new life. I was hormonal and heartbroken, living in Washington Heights. In between work hours spent editing textbooks, I nursed my baby and mashed up bananas.

That first year was chaos. It didn’t help that there were no single-mom role models in my life — except, say, Madonna, who was also parenting solo at the time. If she can do it, I can, I used to think, but I hardly had a superstar’s life.

(And who knew eight years into my own single parenting path, Madonna would become a single mom again?)

Fortunately, I had a fantastic group of friends in NYC who helped. Maybe none of them knew exactly what I was going through, but they babysat and showered little Mae with love, which I appreciate to this day.

In 2002, I moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I grew up. I feel incredibly blessed have founded this blog, which has grown into a community — thanks to all of YOU!

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If you’re interested in advertising — or want to hire me as a writer – here’s more information.

You can always contact me directly at: rachel [at] singlemomseeking [dot] com.

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I’ve worked in educational consulting for a decade. It would be embarrassing if any of my textbook editors got a hold of my book, Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World (2007, Seal Press).

I’ve also had regular writing gigs for LifetimeTV.com, Divorce360.com, and BabyCenter.com.

My writing has appeared in Family Circle, Pregnancy, Parenting, and American Baby — as well as at sites such as Mom Logic, MSN.com, and Huffington Post.

On the side, I’m a contractor for Match.com in its Profile Pro department on the side. Juicy!

I have shared way too much on my website, Single Mom Seeking. It’s what I remember, but most names have been changed to keep me out of trouble.

Single parents, speak up please! Write to me.

Sending love to you all,

Rachel

Photo by the amazing Johannah Hetherington