8.
“The fact that we got left alone so much is something that would confuse kids today. I remember being in 4th grade and riding my bike all around the city. I would just have to be home before dark. But in the summer, that can be close to 10 p.m. And we still did not have to go inside. Just check in, and then run back outside to collect lightning bugs, play tag, jump on the trampoline, or camp out. My mom just made sure there was food in the house, but there would be days when I did not even see her. She would leave notes written on an envelope saying, ‘Heat up this for dinner,’ or ‘Make sure your little brothers got a bath,’ or ‘Put the clothes in the dryer,’ or some other chore.”
“She worked a lot as a single mother in the ’80s. And on her days off, we would sometimes go do something, but there were also times she would go out with her friends to the bar. She married my stepdad when I was 14, but we were mostly independent by that point. It wasn’t until my daughter was born that we started doing ‘family’ stuff.”
—Anonymous, 49, Texas
