T.K.
That is sweet of you to recognize that need for her. When my daughter would go to her dads for amonth in the summer was really hard. I noticed that mom energy is creative energy. I found myself doing a lot of planting flowers and green plants - I guess I needed to see something grow! I would also tackle craft projects around the house. Turning an old window into a wall hanging or gluing beads all over something. Just crafty, artsy stuff that never would've occured to me when I had her to focus on. I also took the time to cook things she would Never eat - grown up food - and maybe have grown ups over for dinner. But the absolute worst are the holidays. Please be sure that she has somewhere to go when they are with thier dad. My 1st divorced Christmas I dropped my little girl off and I just sat in my car and cried. The next year I was getting my head on straight and I volunteered at a shelter for Thanksgiving and went skiing for Christmas. Everybody kept telling me to do things for myself and that just didn't make sense at first. Eventually I understood that I didn't have to martyr myself and be miserable while she was gone. That only caused guilt for her. SO, I tried to make sure I had fun stories to swap with her when she got back so she would know it was ok to go and have fun and not worry about mommy being all alone.