When I Went To The Clinic For A Routine Checkup, I Didn’t Expect To Hear “Consider Life Without Children”

The clinic’s waiting room was as nondescript as ever, with its beige walls and generic landscape paintings. I sat there, the edge of a white envelope grazing my fingers. My name was printed neatly on the front, accompanied by the date: October 3, 2023. It was just a routine checkup, something I’d done countless times … Read more

I sat at the kitchen table, sorting through the day’s mail when I found an envelope that didn’t belong. There it was, my mother’s name in bold letters, but my address below it. It was a bill from St. Mary’s Hospital, dated June 15, with charges that made my stomach churn. I hadn’t even known … Read more