bristol palinIt's not the most flattering, I'm such a nice person thing to admit, but I've never had that much sympathy for Bristol Palin. And not just because of her mom -- I've never had any much sympathy for Sarah Palin either, but guilt-by-association thinking is obviously unfair. No, my opinion of Bristol has been based solely on her words and actions, like when she slammed Obama for endorsing same-sex marriage or went around as a crusader for teen abstinence.

And that's still what my opinion is based on, except now I've seen a side of Bristol that makes it really hard not to feel for the girl at least a teeny tiny bit. Especially as a fellow single mom.

The thing is, I've never really thought of Bristol as a "single mom," mostly because she has way more support, opportunities and money (quite frankly) than the average single mom.

Then I saw a clip from the 21-year-old's soon-to-premiere reality show, Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp, in which the young mother breaks down in tears over the fact that her 3-year-old son Tripp doesn't have a father figure around. And it's not fair to him. And that just plain makes her sad.

And that made me sad, too. Because every single mother knows what that feels like, even single moms like me whose kids have a dad who's around and part of their lives on a regular basis (unlike some people, ahem, Levi Johnston, ahem).

It's just hard, and a lot of the time it sucks and you sit on a couch and cry. And there's no way around it.

Are you a single mom? Can you relate to Bristol Palin?

Image via AOL