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"Every single year, since the year of her birth, I have either been awake or awakened sometime shortly before 2am on Anna&amp;#039;s birthday. She came triumphantly into her new world at exactly 2:06 that morning, and was kind enough to bring me along with her in her adventure. Every year, I go into her bedroom and stand over her, and I whisper &amp;quot;Thank You&amp;quot;, to her and to God and the universe for making her mine.  Not this year, though. For the first time, she was at her Dad&amp;#039;s and he didn&amp;#039;t return her until 7am that morning. I was awake at 2am anyway, sitting on my couch feeling like I still had a great big hole in my life.  I guess some things you just don&amp;#039;t ever really adjust to. I&amp;#039;ll always be missing some of these precious moments, and that&amp;#039;s just a fact of life now. I still remember years ago when Peter first emailed me to say we should split up - I wrote him back and said &amp;quot;You are turning me into a part-time parent completely against my will. Congratulations - you&amp;#039;ve hurt me worse than anyone ever has in my entire life.&amp;quot; I meant every word of that sentence. This is, for me, the one of the hardest and worst parts of divorce. One third of their ongoing young lives I will never get to experience and never get back because it&amp;#039;s Dad&amp;#039;s night or Dad&amp;#039;s weekend. And that&amp;#039;s just the way my life is now. So I made the most of her special day from the moment she was back in my arms, and I do my best to make all our time together count in every way it can at the time. Then I hold onto those memories, and they carry me through the sad moments when they come.  And maybe someday, they won&amp;#039;t come so often anymore. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a46954/little-things-still-get-me/?src=shelter_footer>