My husband had hernia surgery yesterday, which leaves me as the sole caregiver for our two boys, ages 4 and 5. Whenever something comes up and my husband isn't able to share the kid load, I wonder how single parents do it.

Actually, that's how I feel during the first few hours. As more time passes, I'm awestruck by the strength, time and patience it takes to parent solo. And a day or so into the experience, I'm practically on the ground kowtowing out of deep, deep respect for those moms and dads without partners.

Wow. It's a lot of work to single parent, and so many of you, my own parents included, make it look easy. I raise my coffee cup to y'all right now. Cheers.