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Give Me a Reason Friday, 7th February Have a lovely day, Tom murmured, brushing a quick kiss against

I Was Eight When Mum Left Home: She Took a Taxi from the Corner and Never Came Back. My Brother Was Five. From That Day On, Everything in Our House Changed. Dad Started Doing Things He’d Never Done Before—Getting Up Early to Make Breakfast, Learning to Do the Laundry, Ironing Our School Uniforms, Clumsily Brushing Our Hair Before School. I Watched Him Get the Measure of Rice Wrong, Burn Dinners, Forget to Separate Whites and Colours. Yet He Never Let Us Go Without. He’d Come Home Tired from Work, Check Our Homework, Sign Our Books, Make Tomorrow’s Packed Lunches. Mum Never Visited Us Again. Dad Never Brought Another Woman Home, Never Introduced Anyone as His Partner. We Knew He Went Out and Sometimes Stayed Late, But His Personal Life Stayed Outside Our Walls. At Home, It Was Just Me and My Brother. I Never Heard Him Say He Fell in Love Again. His Routine Was Work, Come Home, Cook, Clean, Sleep, Repeat. On Weekends, He’d Take Us to the Park, Wander by the Thames, Visit Shopping Centres—Even Just to Window-Shop. He Learned to Make Plaits, Sew on Buttons, Prepare School Lunches. If We Needed Costumes for School Events, He Made Them from Card and Old Fabric. He Never Complained. He Never Said, “That’s Not My Job.” A Year Ago, My Dad Went to Be With God. It Was Sudden—No Time for Long Goodbyes. While Sorting His Things, I Found Old Notebooks Where He’d Recorded Our Expenses, Important Dates, Notes Like “Pay the Fee,” “Buy Shoes,” “Take the Girl to the Doctor.” I Never Found Love Letters, Photos with Another Woman, or Clues to a Romantic Life. Only the Evidence of a Man Who Lived for His Children. Since He’s Gone, One Question Won’t Let Me Go: Was He Happy? My Mum Left to Find Her Own Happiness. My Dad Stayed, and It Seems He Set Aside His Own. He Never Started Another Family, Never Had a Home With a Partner, Never Became a Priority for Anyone But Us. Now I Realize I Had an Incredible Father. But I Also Understand He Was a Man Who Stayed Alone So We Didn’t Have to Be. And That’s Heavy. Because Now That He’s Gone, I Wonder If He Ever Got the Love He Deserved.

I was eight years old when my mum left home. She walked to the corner, got into a black cab, and never

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06

It Took Me Fifteen Years to Realise My Marriage Was Like a January Gym Membership—Full of Good Intentions at First, Then Empty for the Rest of the Year

It took me fifteen years to realise my marriage was much like a gym membership you sign up for every

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08

Raising a Wimpy Kid, or Why Did You Enroll Him in Music School?

Raising a Push-over Why did you sign him up for music lessons? Margaret Thornton breezed past me, tugging

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03

It Took Me Fifteen Years to Realise My Marriage Was Like a January Gym Membership—Full of Good Intentions at First, Then Empty for the Rest of the Year

It took me fifteen years to realise my marriage was much like a gym membership you sign up for every

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013

I Thought My Husband Was Supporting His Three Daughters from His First Marriage—But He Wasn’t. I Went to See Them Myself. Did I Do the Right Thing By Throwing Him Out on the Spot?

For months, I believed my husband was fulfilling his responsibilities to the three daughters from his

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02

“I Think the Love Has Gone: Anna’s Story of 15 Years of Devotion, Sacrifice, and the Courage to Start Over After Heartbreak”

I think the love has faded. Youre the prettiest girl in this whole department, he said that day, handing

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03

I Knew My Husband Was Having an Affair. I Decided to Hire His Mistress at My Company – Everyone Said I Was Mad.

I always suspected my husband was having an affair. People called me mad when I decided to give his mistress a job.

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012

You Stay Home with the Baby—I’m Going Alone to My Brother’s Wedding

Stay with the child. Ill go alone to my brothers wedding. My husband got home from work yesterday, and

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05

He’s Already 35 and Still Has No Wife or Children: A Mother’s Reflections on Raising an Only Son Alone and the Challenges of Letting Go

Hes already 35 and still has neither wife nor children. Last week, I was at my mother-in-laws house with my son.