Fault Lines

by Emily Itami

Despite all that, though, despite the emotional roller coaster and the guilt and the rage and the sheer, headache-inducing noisiness of life with my children, there are moments, whole half hours or even afternoons, in this life now that are so perfect it takes all my concentration not to give in to melancholy and weep that it’s passing even while it’s still going on. There are Friday nights when, just as I’m about to fall asleep, I remember that tomorrow I can be with Aki and Eri all day long, and it’s like the feeling I used to have before my birthday when I was small.