If you’re a single parent.
My experience of being a single parent/ divorce is going from years of having my DCs with me practically every minute of every hour when I wasn’t at work to suddenly not having them for 48 hours each week. It’s a struggle to remember who you are vs who you were. Do you spend that time cleaning? Working? Sleeping? Relaxing? But ultimately after a few months you may start reconnecting with friends and going out again.
I found that it’s easier to make social plans with childless friends but there is a disconnect. I’ve usually had a weekend of farms/ parks/ picnics and Bluey marathons and they’re coming down off LSD, or recovering from two hours sleep, or having just stopped shagging their new guy. I love hearing their stories but I don’t know how to respond, after all, this is only my part time life, not my full time life.
I find it even harder to connect with my friends with children. There’s some who really go for it, they have roughly one child free night a year and intend to get as trashed as possible. There’s some in semi controlling relationships who seem to have to text or call their other halves every half hour, who look so nervous that they’d might as well have not bothered. There’s the single parents who have instantly got into other LTRs who you never see. And there’s people like me. Stuck between one place and another, not looking to meet anyone but find it strange to walk home to an empty, quiet house filled with toys, to eat your kebab alone whilst watching a box set, curled up under a Encanto duvet cover.