There's No Coming Back from This

by Ann Garvin

To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting. —e. e. cummings

No. One hundred percent no. I have a colonoscopy,

“To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late,” I said. “I had a band teacher who said that, and I guess I believed it.”

Women learn to be pleasing—often their lives and livelihoods depend on it.

There was so much to learn, and it occurred to me that the largest life lesson of all had to be answering the question of how much to give, how much to keep. How much do you matter versus how much do others count when trying to be a mother, friend, or good person?

Whatever all else comes and goes—memories, parents, houses, children—the truth I’m left with is this: I am mine. What if that was enough?