My Parents Cut Me Off At 19 For Getting Pregnant By An Electrician \u2014 19 Years Later, My Mom Knocked<\/p>\n
My name is Reagan Harden, I am 38 years old, and I haven\u2019t spoken to my parents in 19 years. The last time I saw my father, Dr. Jonathan Carile, chair of the Oregon Medical Board, he told me I was throwing away four generations of healers for a man who fixes wires.<\/p>\n
My mother, Dr. Rebecca Carile, head of pediatrics at Portland Children\u2019s Hospital, handed me a garbage bag for my things and said, \u201cYou\u2019re not our daughter anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was 19, seven months pregnant, and the man who \u201cfixes wires\u201d was standing outside in the November rain of Portland, Oregon, United States, holding an engagement ring he\u2019d bought with three months of overtime. They didn\u2019t know that the man they dismissed would become the best father our daughter could ask for.<\/p>\n
And they certainly didn\u2019t know that 19 years later, a newspaper headline would force them to confront exactly what kind of healers they really were. This is that story. It was Thanksgiving 2006.<\/p>\n
Twelve relatives were gathered around my parents\u2019 dining table in Portland Heights, the neighborhood where doctors and lawyers prove they\u2019ve made it. Every single person at that table had \u201cDoctor\u201d or \u201cEsquire\u201d before their name, except Tyler. He wasn\u2019t even supposed to be there.<\/p>\n
I had told my parents we were just dating, but I was seven months pregnant, and hiding it under oversized sweaters had stopped working around October. My mother noticed first. She always noticed everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cReagan,\u201d she said, her voice cutting through dessert conversation like a scalpel through skin. \u201cStand up.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood. The room went quiet.<\/p>\n
Twelve pairs of eyes locked onto my stomach. My father set down his fork. The Carile family crest hung behind him on the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanare est munus.\u201d To heal is our duty. My grandmother had founded Oregon\u2019s first women\u2019s medical practice in 1952. That crest was our religion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow far along?\u201d my father asked. \u201cSeven months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the father?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My Parents Cut Me Off At 19 For Getting Pregnant By An Electrician \u2014 19 Years Later, My Mom Knocked My name is Reagan Harden, I am… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n