Part 2 of a 3-part series:

When Clare Bean and Morgan Siler, single mothers in Portland, Oregon, were introduced by a mutual friend last year, their quick connection shattered the isolation of mothering alone.

“It was a jolt of confidence,” Siler says. “The kind you have when you meet someone who gets you. You feel like you can accomplish so much more together than apart, whether that means you run a business together, like we do, or not.

“It’s just that partnership that allows you to live life a little easier.”

The women, both mothers of young sons, became each other’s support system and biggest cheerleaders. They’d meet up with their boys, Lucca and Colby, and bounce around the ideas that found form in a new social network site for single parents.

Their site, iheartsingleparents.com, launched a beta version in February, followed by regular meet-ups for Portland-area members. Think drinks and potluck dinners, bike rides and camping trips.

“It’s a way to not feel so alone, but also to not gather and wallow in misery,” Bean says. “To be happy and proud of who you are.”

What they’re hoping to create at I Heart is an entry point to connect people who are isolated by circumstance and the day-to-day logistics of managing fulltime work and solo parenting.

“Single parents are kind of lost in the woodwork,” Siler says. “They’re out there, but how to meet them?”

To date more than 600 members have joined I Heart trying to find the answer to that question.

“Kind of an undercurrent of the site is showing people they are empowered and responsible for themselves and the happiness in their lives regardless of the situation,” Siler says.

For Siler, the birth of her son, Lucca, inspired her to take charge of her life, to make her external self reflect her internal posture. She wanted to be consciously and genuinely happy, despite the inherent physical, emotional and financial challenges of parenting alone.

She’s a fulltime single parent, Lucca’s father was not around when she was pregnant and does not contribute in any way in raising him.

“It’s up to me to show up in the world and give people a clue that they don’t need to pity me. I’m honest about the challenges, and I’m happy,” she says.

“You can see it without even asking me. I don’t say it under my breath anymore. I say, ‘I’m a single mom and I love it, I’m happier now than I’ve been in my whole life, really’.”

[See Part 3 here] 

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