My Modern Family

I first learned of the term “co-parent” when I was doing my qualitative research for my master’s class. It is a term associated to parents of a “broken family,” which euphemists have termed as a “modern family.”

I wouldn’t say that I didn’t see my situation coming. In fact, I have seen and felt a lot of signs that my relationship with my ex-partner is bound to end. I just chose to ignore those signs because I believed in my sole capacity to keep my family intact against all odds. I learned the hard way that I thought wrong.

My son lives with his dad, while my daughters are with me. Our only communication channel is the messenger chatbox that my son has created, which he renamed as “mom, dad, and lola button.” I have left the chatbox a few times before but my son would always add me there again. He pleaded that nobody should leave it. In as much as I wanted to cut all communications with the father of my children, I couldn’t.

I asked my priest-friend if there will ever be a way that I could stop communicating with my ex because I am no longer interested in doing anything with him. I think I’m good to go even if we have uneven share of responsibilities for our three children. My friend’s response was, "It is impossible because you two have kids."

“Uh, alright. I’m stuck.” This is what I thought then.

Acceptance. Time heals all wounds.

It’s been over two years now since I asked my ex-partner to leave our abode upon finding out that he was cheating on me. He never returned although our communication had been on and off. Now that a lot of things have already happened and interfered with our lives, we are now two different (hopefully improved) persons.

Enlightened by the drama series, “Ika-6 Na Utos,” starred by Sunshine Dizon and Gabby Concepcion, below sums up my view on our set-up:

To my dear kids, even if mom and dad can no longer be together because we chose to live apart, I would like to assure you that you are not without a family. The three of you have a biological mother, a biological father, and of course you have your siblings! Even if we don’t live under one roof anymore, we are a family and we will always be… Cheer up, mommy loves you all.

Devastated because your family got problems too? Worry not. Things will get better.