My sister had asked me to bake. “Keep her busy” was the secret code among my family members that season. By Nancy Payne-Hambrose
relationships
It had been a long time since I’d heard her laugh. It felt like clouds parting. By Stewart Lewis
Time heals so much of what goes wrong in life, but the memory of what happened to Mum on that day still makes my body react. By Clover Stroud
You will be in your slippers, making waffles, and suddenly remember that your mother is dead. By Brianne DeRosa
After we gave it all to Goodwill, I lived in fear every day that I would see somebody else wearing my mom’s clothes. By Kandace Chapple
One mother refused to let her daughter stop playing the flute. So what made her change her mind? By Daisy Florin
The toddler parents were looking at me in wonder, as if they couldn’t believe their children would ever be old enough to go into the exam room alone. By Deborah Lindsay Williams
Why is living in mom’s basement such a terrible thing? By Fara Nizamani
I was a singer. She was a groupie. We decided to have a baby together. By Stewart Lewis
How could I do it all again? The uncomfortable pregnancy, the brutal birth, the dark newborn days. By Joy Netanya
Make sure your children have time together without you. Encourage their collective independence. By KJ Dell’Antonia
I am ashamed to admit I believed you were a good man who deserved to be forgiven. By Jo Hall
For me the taco had become an easy vector of choice, creativity, freedom, and therefore power. By Samantha Shanley
Sometimes making yourself quieter for other people is the same as making yourself smaller. By Lauren Apfel
“Momma was crying last night,” my seven-year-old said. “She was crying because you left our family.” By Erik Raschke
Unlike the majority of her peers, my mom does not consider being a grandma the single most important and satisfying aspect of her life. By Lauren Apfel
When we use #blessed, we are saying that we have been chosen for joy. The problem is what this word suggests in the context of suffering. By Liz Becker
I decided to stop asking Austin about his plan. I decided to stop suggesting pathways and careers to him, as if I were a marketing director of adulthood. By Ann marie Houghtailing
I can’t imagine a time without children in my house, just as one month ago I could not imagine an evening without bath time. By Kelli Kirk
We are forever snarled in each other’s hair, my daughter and I, invested in the consistency of the people we know best and need most. By Leslie Kendall Dye
Perhaps the fish were feeble replacements for all that we had lost, but they were also hopeful things. By Samantha Shanley
I don’t want to mess this up. I live in fear of being seen as a privileged person with an accessory on my arm. By Jenn O’Connor
Catherine Newman offers advice to a grandmother, who is raising her 15-year-old grandson, about the reality of teenagers and conflict.
To throw away the cigarettes, and choose to run instead. To stop running when my hips hurt, and walk instead. By Kathleen Harris
It’ll only occur to me months later, in the flurry of taking you to college, that this was the quiet part before the big crescendo. By Jennifer Niesslein