After all, it was true. Whatever our hearts said, whatever we’d been through, we were not legally their parents. And when it comes to paperwork, legality is the whole point.

I can’t help but fast-forward to high school competitions where she’ll be, I guess, slathering herself with fake tanner, donning a 5-pound curly wig, and dousing herself so thoroughly in gender norms that the stain will never come out.

I’ve been an unwilling participant for seven years in a study about the physical and psychological impacts of sleep deprivation and mess.

Do I have another metamorphosis in me?

Joy is sometimes a lot of work. And it won’t cure fevers. It won’t pay for car repairs. 

I refuse to hold onto things for sentimental value. The exception? Any – any – stuffed animal my children have ever loved.

If I squinched up my eyes and tilted my head and really looked at my unshiny life, I could sort of see… glimmering?

Four times in June I planted rows. Four times savage bunnies chewed them to nubs.