I was my son's Cub Scout Den Leader when he was in second grade. His dad and I divorced that year, and many of the parents of the kids in my den were incredibly awful to me about it.

I would come home from cleaning houses (yes, that was what I did for awhile to help make ends meet) and there were messages on the answering machine from so-called friends telling me that they were praying that I would get back together with my husband. (yes, after trying for 18 years and failing, I instigated the divorce).

Even our parish priest would tell me that I had a duty to go back to my son's dad. It was awful. Parents quit sending their kids to cub scouts because they didn't want a 'divorced woman' as den mother.

After Andy finished that year out, I moved him from parochial to public school - the pressure on me and on him was unbelievable. It ended up that the so-called wonderful school district there was not so great, but after a few years, I met John and moved to a different area, where the district, without fancy buildings, had incredible teachers, and Andy soared.

Anyway, I thought it was just because we were in a Catholic school - now it looks like there are parents like that all over the place!

Andy quite cub scouts soon after that, and he has ended up doing just fine - he is a freshman in college majoring in computer science.

Gee, I'm starting to ramble, but go read Da Goddess's blog, it's pretty darn good.