Ryan was a good man. Solid. Predictable. Kind in the way that men are when they don’t quite know how else to be, but mean well. He’d been that way since the first time we met. The type of guy who would open doors, refill your gas tank without saying anything, and tell you you’re beautiful while brushing his teeth in the morning.

We fell in love fast, in the way you do when you’re still young enough to believe effort and good intentions will always be enough.

When I got pregnant after years of trying—our little Susie, our miracle baby—life took a sharp left into parenthood. We weren’t prepared, but who ever

really is? The diapers, the midnight feedings, the sudden realization that your old life just evaporated and this new one demands your full self, every hour of the day. Read more below