I Looked at the Family Calendar and Felt Claustrophobic

Dear Delyara, All those squares filled. Clubs. School things. Work things. A birthday. A bill. A dentist appointment. A reminder. A note to buy something. A thing to remember. Another thing to remember. I stood there looking at the calendar and felt trapped in a life made almost entirely of being needed at the correct time in the correct place by the correct people. Nothing on it was unreasonable. That’s what made it more upsetting. Ordinary life can become so full of legitimate claims that a woman starts feeling crowded by the legitimacy itself. That was me tonight. Not rebellious. Crowded.