single parenting

My son got sick at daycare and they called me, I've always been the first person on the list and his father has always been the second person, however usually I would get the call and have his father pick him up. Its not the same anymore. Now when they call for a minute I am stuck because I can no longer call his father, but then I say as usual someone will be there to pick him up, and now that someone is me! So I have to take off from work for the day and nurse my son. This is new for both of us because even he knows this is not how it is supposed to be. When he gets sick he wants his daddy, when he gets upset he wants his daddy and when he goes to sleep he wants his daddy. He still says mama can I call daddy and I now have to say no sweetie, daddy will call you when he gets the chance. He simply says ok, but I can see it in his eyes he doesn't understand these changes. I try to keep it somewhat the same for him. We send daddy drawings for the week and we send daddy the daycare menu for breakfast, lunch, and snack. I try to do whatever I can to make all of us feel connected in some way. Dajon said the other inmates tell him he is lucky because some of them don't even know how their children are doing and he tells them it isn't luck at all it's how well we communicated when he was home. This isn't Dajon's 1st or 2nd time but his 3rd time and I have been his friend throughout each incarceration, the difference this time is that we have settled down and started a family together. Dajon's concern is that he always knows what is going on in our son's life while he is away, because he didn't always know how his other 2 children were in the past, that is a different story and truly isn't relevant to our story. Today I just want to remind my readers that you have to put yourself in your loved one's shoes. They didn't want to leave and I'm sure they realized that if they didn't change their situation God was going to change it for them. Being separated by bars isn't easy by far but if we continue to communicate mentally we don't have to feel separated. The phone calls can add up so invest in a few hours a week to take the time to write a letter. As for the midday phone calls that my son is sick, I have decided to reach out to my friends who's work schedule is a little more flexible than mine and I have restructured the daycare emergency list. My biggest challenge is reaching out to my family and friends for help for the little stuff as I call it. I never had to but I guess at the end of the day I thank God my son still has his father even if he is physically not home with us everyday at least he can still help me raise him, in a different way.