Hziegler's story....

Well, here comes my story of how I became a young, single mom. I met Shannon shortly after graduating from high school and fell head over heels! We were never apart since the day we met. I was a goody-goody in school - never drank, never did drugs, graduated in the top of my class. Shannon was my "bad boy" - he was too good looking for his own good, didn't care what people thought about him, partied hard, played hard, and gave me all sorts of attention that I never received from boys. Things were going great, in my opinion. We constantly took the train to Chicago to the museums and we were truly enjoying each other's company. He proposed to me after only 4 months of dating and he even acted like he was starting to slow down and grow up. We got married 10 months later in an overly extravagant wedding and guess what? I was already 3 months pregnant with Lexi! We were thrilled!! Well, Shannon got into some legal trouble and ended up spending time behind bars. We wrote and wrote to each other the whole time and every Sunday I'd go there during visiting hours with my big ol' belly. He was released exactly 1 month before I gave birth. Then he got a new job as a welder just down the road from where we lived together and once again things seemed to be going well. Not for long...he got involved with the wrong crowd and started doing a lot of pot, cocaine, and drinking beer every single night. In the meantime Kiegan came along (he's only 19 months younger then Lexi) and I was not happy. I started to hear rumors that he was screwing around on me. As I'm sure most of you know, when you're in love with someone you tend to block out the truth. That's certainly what I did!! Things just kept getting worse and worse, Shannon has never laid a hand on me, but he has said some terrible things to me. He would have all of his loser friends come over to our house when they got off work at Midnight and they would party it up right out in our living room while I had a new born and a 2 year old sleeping with me just down the hall. Finally in January of 2001, Shannon's conscience got the better of him and he admitted to me that he was dating someone. I cannot begin to explain how this 1 day would change me forever. It's like those words coming out of his mouth lit a fire under my butt. The kids were napping when he told me so I just marched back to our bedroom and packed all his crap up for him and told him to get the hell out. Keep in mind that it was the middle of winter, we owned 1 car, and I wasn't about to give him a ride anywhere. So he walked!! To where? I have no idea. Since that day I have never once let him come back home. I refused to give him another chance. All the unhappiness I experienced with him just wouldn't leave my memory and I refused to put myself back into that situation. I knew better!! He kept dating this girl (plus many others) and she was MEAN. Mean to her own kids, mean to our kids, mean to everybody that crossed her path. She told me something that I will never, ever forgive her for - Shannon and I were arguing over the phone about the kids b/c he claimed he was never bringing them back to me and suddenly she's on the phone and she tells me that my kids could care less if I die or fall off the face of the earth. I was dumbfounded. I lost it - I was a crying mess!!! To make this long story short, Shannon finally pulled his head out of his ass and to this day he is my best friend. How could I forgive him for putting me through years of hell? I have no idea. I think we both have a common goal of making Lexi & Kiegan's lives as easy and as happy as we possibly can so we just agree to disagree on things. He's getting married next May to a girl that I think is just terrific. She's awesome with the kids and the kids adore her. She also seems to be very good for Shannon. I get told all the time that it's rare to come across ex's that get along as well as we do and yes, it is rare, but it can be done! Today, I am a 26 year old single mom (I have yet to get the urge to date after 3 1/2 years of being single), I work full time doing computer programming, I belong to numerous clubs/organizations through work, and I'm going back to school. I feel so very successful as far as my career and personal life go!! I left out many details in my story to keep it somewhat condensed, but with a lot of hard work and determination any young, single mom can be successful at anything they put their minds to!