Hello, my name is Jackie Paulson. I am a 44-year-old single mother
born on 12-12-1966 with the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The one thing
I find true for me that stands out in the traits of the zodiac sign is
“Knowledge is power.” I love to read and learn from others as a life
Long knowledge and truthseeker.
The reason why I blog is to mainly network and share knowledge with
others. My passion is reading and research so this helps me to share
what I know. I can read 167 pages of any book in two hours with
complete comprehension of what I have read. I was not always a good
reader and that all changed once I got married. The reason it changed
is because I wanted to “fix” my husband at that time. He was a
drinker and so was I. Of course I did not think I had a problem I
thought he did. What I did was to get my hands on every self-help
book I could get my hands on from Barns and Nobel book stores.
Eventually I was invited to a AA meeting with a friend and took her upon the offer.
I went there to “fix” my husband’s drinking problem. What I found out
was that I could not “fix” anyone but “myself.” Low and behold, I
changed and quit drinking and my husband did not. The changes I made
involved learning to not be a codependent and live my life
Married but “detached” from my husband and his drinking.
I got married on 2-22-92 and got divorced on 3-26-95 and I had our
baby on 2-14-94. Yes, a short marriage to an alcoholic, a divorce
with a 1-year-old which led me to being a single mother working three
Jobs just to survive. My ex husband was unfaithful in our marriage
and led to our divorce. I was born and raised Catholic and divorce
was not an option unless he broke one of the Ten Commandments and
since he did I was free to divorce and remarry, which I have not. I
received “sole custody” of our daughter and raised her the best way I
knew how and now she is going to be 17 on Valentine’s Day 2011. Yes, I
am a Proud Mother!
Okay, so to make a long story short, I have been in an ongoing battle
to get child support from my ex husband and he has been remarried and
has a ten-year old son. Here it is 2011 and my ex owes me over 94
thousand dollars. You wonder how come so much? He is Delinquent
and when that happens there is penalties and interest that built up over
the years. Have I gotten any of that money yet, No! What is crazy is
how “dead beat dads” like him can live “knowing” they do not
support the child they helped to create into this world. It takes
“two” to have a child and it take’s “two” to support a child. I did
my part by raising her the best I could, working many jobs to make
ends meet, and taking on all the responsibility that a single parent
does, and then my ex did not see what I had to do just to survive.
So, if he did care he would have paid his child support, “actions
speak louder than words.”
About Me Continued:
I grew up in a strict Irish Catholic family of seven kids and two adults. I even attended boarding schools in high school. Interesting enough my real mother died from over drinking and my father is a drinker to this day. My father owned a restaurant and later a bar and liquor store. It is obvious that my dysfunctional background helped me to want to start drinking when I was eighteen years old. Since I was born in 1966, I was able to travel over the border to Wisconsinand drink. Drinking at age eighteen started my love of drinking, attention, showing off, challenges and romances. Then I got married on 2-22-1992 to a man I fell in love with. He was a great looking man (Billy Ray Cyrus look-alike). He was a drinker. We enjoyed our new married life, new friends and all of the drinking parties. I joined a volleyball team at our local bar and loved the sport and the drinking. With all of this said I have to admit I was never pulled over by the police and never got a DUI. Oh am I thankful for these years later. Anyhow, after two years of a wonderful marriage we decided to have a child. Once I became pregnant I wanted the best for our child, so I quit drinking, my husband did not. At first I didn’t have a problem with this but after the child was born I changed. I decided that I wanted what was best for our child, a girl, and since my mom died when I was five and she was thirty-three, I vowed not to drink or tolerate it in front of our child, which included the/my husband. I decided to attend AA meetings to make sure I kept sober with a child. I never thought I would learn so much when I went there. I went to “get my husband to quit drinking.” What I learned is that I had to work on me and not him. What a Revelation! As time passed I did not allow my husband to have any alcohol in our home. We started to fight a lot, about money, communication problems, and then he would just not come home from work until really late. He decided to drink after work with his drinking buddies and just ignore his wife and child. Oh how I was devastated and learned that the meetings were helping me to make my own decisions and to not focus on my husband and his drinking but on my life. As I started to detach from his drinking and find new found things to do that did not involve drinking, my husband ended up coming home from work when our child was one years old asking for a divorce. He said, “I fell out of love with you.” As this came to a big surprise and shock to me, I had to stay strong because of our child. Needless to say, the meetings helped me to stay strong, not drink and become a divorced single mother working three jobs. I received “sole custody” of our girl and to this day do not drink. She is now seventeen years old and I am forty-four. The best thing I ever did was attend meetings to get the proper help I needed in order to get my life in order to be a strong single mother and raise our girl by myself working three jobs. I am proud of her and I am proud of me. I know my real mom is proud that I did such a wonderful job raising her and that I did not follow in the drinking path of destruction by so many in our family.
If you have questions or comments feel free to contact me @ jackiepaulson8@gmail.com
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/TRUTHSEEKER1966
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/focusawareness/
WORDPRESS: http://postadaychallenge2011.com/
http://getreadingnow.wordpress.com/
Related articles
- About Me Jackie Paulson (postadaychallenge2011.com)
- About Me Jackie Paulson (getreadingnow.wordpress.com)
- About Me Jackie Paulson (dailydigestblogchallenge.wordpress.com)
- About Me Jackie Paulson (thewritershelp.org)
Jackie, you are a strong woman, you know that, right? Its been a bad phase, and we are wishing you all the love and happiness for years and years to come. May all your wishes and dreams come true.
Thank you for stopping by our blog and liking it.
Thanks so much for liking my post on my blog “Delightful Local Repast”…I enjoyed reading your blog and can relate to the whole deadbeat dad, being a single mom circumstance…really hard…I did it a long time myself…good for you for everything you did and still do to have come out of it with humour, determination and strength
Cheers, Rose
It is difficult to share the struggles of our lives and yet you have done so with honesty and humility. Thank you for visiting my blog, It has been nice “meeting” you. ~ Sherene
You go girl!
I too, am about the same age as you, and went through the “go to AA to get my husband to stop drinking” phase. (I ended up in Al-Anon for me instead.) He quit drinking later, and then the arguments began. But by the grace of God, (and tons of ‘pray-until-something-happens P.U.S.H. prayer, – even if that something is finding peace,) me and my husband have remained married now for over 25 years.
Below is a link showing how God saved us from our latest argument…
http://dreamsofdunamis.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/this-is-satan-attacking-us/
Blessings to you and your daughter,
C. Dunamis
heyy there
thanks alot for dropping by my blog! 
and yeayyy You are my 50th follower 
thanks!
Jackie, your opinion please. Been getting a few more awards but on hold because I am too primitive with the skills for links and 7 favorite colors and 12 best movies and such make me crazy. Hey I’m 62 not 23. Like to accept but don’t want to insult the grantor buy not doing all the silly things.
Thank you for following my blog. I admire your courage. Keep it up! Happy St. Patrick’s day!
Hello! Thanks for dropping by my blog. I read your story and I admire your courage and determination. Your taking on your life and your son’s to break the cycle that appears to have been all around you is admirable.
I found the 365 day challenge very interesting although I’m not so sure I can commit to daily entries. Mine is an issue of time. I have so many commitments at work. Then, I have commitments to family. Then, there’s the writer’s block I sometimes et every now and then…..
Pingback: Weekly Photo More Kitties | ♥ Project 365 ♥ Challenge ♥
Peace and blessing on you i had read your “about me” its a pleasure to see such a lady with tough caricature in the dogmas of life. May Almighty gave all women courage to be on right way.
Thank you for following my blog and I look forward to reading your! Have a great weekend!
Hi Jackie,
You once left a comment on my blog to never give up writing! I wanted to tell you that I nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger award, and thanks for the encouragement!
http://suzzannah.com/2012/03/09/very-inspiring-blogger-award/
Thank you for following my blog. I just started so i’m a bit nervous about it, but i was excited to see that someone liked it. You sound like a really nice person; i’ll have to check out your blog
Accepting responsibility for your own health and wellbeing is the first step. Congratulations on being able to walk so many miles and thanks for noticing my blog — there are some really pleasing photographs here
I think you are a beautiful writer, I like how you put your feelings out there. Your blog is a ray of sunshine. Good luck to you!
Hi! Thank you so much for following my old blog lifeineuphoria.com
however, if you want to stumble upon my latest blogposts, i have moved to http://ekaiineuphoria.com already. And you have a very lovely blog! 
Good for you. I too, have battled addictions with alcohol and drugs and was a single mom. That was almost 20 years ago and when I look back, I shudder at the thought of the stupidity. God had plans for me and He made sure I kicked my bad habbits to fulfill them. Today, I am happily married and my daughter is getting married in July while my youngest is turning 13 in 2 weeks. Life is good and it turned around for me when I realized I need to do my part but ultimately HE is in control. I am so proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. Before I forget, I also wanted to say thank you for following my blog. Take care…
Hi Jackie,
I’ve really enjoyed my visits to your site and your support to mine.
As a sister in Christ, I just would like you to know that I think your blog is an inspiration.
I also wanted to say “Thank you” for following me at my wordpress.com site. BTW – I’ve moved and updated my site, you can continue following me at: http://barefootpreachr.org/
Look forward to seeing you soon!
Blessings,
Pat
Hi Jackie….check your email for a message from me….thanks
Celeste
Hey Jackie! Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the “like” on today’s post; and for joining the journey on FB. I’ve enjoyed browsing your blog and look forward to sharing the journey. Take care!
Jackie, I came here to thank you for visiting and commenting on my “punny” photoblog today,” but after reading your story above, I need to tell you that I have tremendous respect for you. You worked your way out of a destructive lifestyle and then worked (hard) as a single mom to raise your daughter. You deserve a big CONGRATULATIONS!
–John
Thank you John for your inspiration. I am so glad you came here to meet me and I am honored to visit your blog too.