The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise

by Colleen Oakley

If there was anything worse in life than a man telling you to calm down when you were upset, she didn’t know what it was.

And even in the grips of her waning shock and rising fear, she couldn’t help but recognize the amusing irony: that now, when she could barely walk—she was going to have to run.

“Sometimes it just feels like we still spend so much time trying to teach the house not to catch on fire, instead of teaching the arsonist not to light it.”

In life, there were two kinds of friends: friends who would wish you well on your journey to battle, and friends who would jump in the trenches with you.

To them, she was a mother, and once a mother, you’re never quite a fully formed person in the eyes of your children.