The more alone you are in parenthood, the more alone you are in parenting. One hundred years ago you’d have a child surrounded by other women: your mother, her mother, sisters, cousins, sisters-in-law, mother-in-law. And you’d be a teenager, too young to have had any kind of life yourself. You’d share childcare with a raft […]
There’s a stigma attached to those who have to be on medication to get through their day. I, for one, am tired of keeping this secret. I remember my first panic attack. I was in my workplace, in a meeting, and suddenly, I couldn’t concentrate on what was being said. An overwhelming feeling of fear […]
I opened the envelope, and pulled the letter out. It was at least six pages. I glanced over it and saw words like “disappointed,” “behavior,” “crappy,” and “finished.” The letter arrived today. Although I won’t mark it return to sender, neither will I read the whole thing in one sitting. I’ll take it in small […]
No matter how involved and supportive my son’s father is, it often feels like the weight of the big, big decisions—and the small, daily decisions—are perched on my shoulders. Right before my son was born my mother said something to me that, at the time, didn’t make much sense. She said: “Your husband will love you […]
My life doesn’t look the way that she thought women’s lives should look—no husband, no children, an unkempt house, and a penchant for oversharing on the Internet—but is she proud of me? For a while now, I’ve been writing a eulogy for my grandmother. I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll ever give it. […]
