We Got This

In the U.S., more than 15 million women are parenting children on their own, either by circumstance or by choice. Too often these moms who do it all have been misrepresented and maligned. Not anymore. Here 75 solo mom writers tell the truth about their lives--their hopes and fears, their resilience and setbacks, their embarrassments and triumphs.mphs.

Table of ContentsIntroduction 11Marika LindholmChapter One: The Kids Are AlrightThe Road 15Teresa Mei ChucYou Were Born to Be Loved 16Domenica Rutafrom The Light of the World: A Memoir 21Elizabeth AlexanderWhen One Door Closes, Another One Opens 24Terri LintonNotes to My Autistic Daughter 27Marianne Peel FormanI Was the Different One 30Nisa RashidReturn 35Dorianne LauxTeaching My Son to Write: An Abecedarian 37Stacia FleegalIt's Really Not a Big Deal 39Jacob KronenbergAn Open Letter to Our Sperm Donor 42Robin SilbergleidDad Day: Death Is a Holiday 44Lennlee KeepHow to Pray 48Sage CohenButterfly and Sunshine 50Marika LindholmChapter Two: Lean on MeFinding My Voice, Feeding My Friends 57Janelle HardyFor My Sisters 61Sharisse Kimbrofrom A Beautiful, Terrible Thing 65Jen WaiteRaising a Boy Without a Man 71Kathleen LaccinoleSeptember 17 76Anne LamottPrayer 78Keetje KuipersThe Godfather 80Margot Kesslerthe lost women 83Lucille CliftonWe Are Loved 84Amy RiversXIII 88Adrienne RichTahlequah 89Isa DownAll the Single Ladies 90Jennifer BaumgardnerChapter Three: A Day in the LifeWhen a Car Wreck Collides with Picking Up the Kids 98Melissa StephensonHow to Comfort a Small Child 101Abby MurrayRules for Being Twenty 105Ariel GoreEvening Guilt 108Kristie Robin Johnson"I'm the woman who hit your daughter with my car" 111Courtney ChristineLife After the NICU 119Sarah NetterMy Life as a Refugee 124Faleeha HassanThe Rookie 129January Gill O'NeilThis Is Your Life 131Fern CapellaCrying It Out 136Robin SilbergleidThey Give Awards For That 138Lee NashChapter Four: Good Morning HeartacheWhy We Stay 141VersAnnette Blackman-BosiaWhen He Died 144Robin RogersThis Lesson My Boy Already Knows 148Georgia Pearlefrom The Light of the World: A Memoir 151Elizabeth AlexanderThen 155Ruth StoneWhen Black Lives Matter More than You Ever Imagined 157Deborah PannellIn a Quiet Moment 161Hilary MeltonHeroin Rain 163Anne SpollenOn Home 168Lisa Fay CoutleyWhat I Will Tell His Daughter, When She's Old Enough to Ask 170Meg DayGrey Street 171Angela RickettsChapter Five: A Change Is Gonna ComeNow That I Am Forever with Child 178Audre LordeComing Out Pregnant! 180Staceyann ChinThe Story, For Now 187Janlori GoldmanMyths of Botany and Motherhood 191Isa DownGravity 195Kim AddonizioThe Nervous Hospital 196Mary KarrWhat Remains 202Jaimie SeatonIt Will Look Like a Sunset 207Kelly SundbergCicadas 221Rachel Jamison WebsterMy Books on Divorce 224Amy PoehlerToday, I Am Mostly Crying 230Claire GillespieChapter Six: Isn't It RomanticSize Queen 234Evie PeckAll Manner of Obscene Things 239Kim AddonizioOrigami Wishes 241Akesha BaronHow My Daughter Taught Me to Trust Again 244Rachel SarahPersonals 248Muriel JohnsonKaboom 249Susan GoldbergI Don't Want Your Husband 256P. Charlotte LindseyHow to Love 259January Gill O'NeilYou Can't "Undo" This One 261Jessica BernI Ask the Impossible 265Ana CastilloChapter Seven: Here Comes the SunYeah, but . . . 268Cheryl DumesnilMy Birth, My Way 276Cate MorrisseyHow I Came to Me 279Malaika King AlbrechtTeacher and Teammate 282Sarah KowalskiThe Sky Is Everywhere 288Nancy SharpDivorce Cliché 290Shannon LellSunday 292January Gill O'NeilWhy I Don't Grieve for My Daughter at College 294Ylonda GaultDeconstructing Kanji 298Mika YamamotoAfter He Left 302Jeanie TomaskoI'd Loved Before, But Never Like This 304asha bandeleContributors 307Permissions & Acknowledgments 331¿