Telling lies, being lied to
Lying was a new thing for me, a dubious skill I had not previously possessed, a worrying skill that I had not wanted and did not know I would ever need to perfect. Who knew that it was such an art? X, it turned out, was a master of...
Dreading the empty nest, too early
The thought of my empty nest and of a less intense life began to trouble me. Everything was suddenly becoming easier than it had ever been – my children were older and needed less supervision, they were spending more time with friends or doing activities without me. My husband...
A lack of contentment in my 30s
Sometimes I think that when I got pregnant at 17 I pressed pause on my brain. I think that I was on some kind of autopilot through the studying and the parenting and the first years of being married. I don’t mean that I wasn’t present, not that I...
How I learnt to run and why I love running
Around the time of my youngest daughter’s first birthday I decided, almost on a whim, to become a runner. I had happened upon an article in a women’s magazine, just a short segment, in which the author extolled the virtues of running as a hobby and it appealed to...
Twenties, and living for motherhood
I moved through my 20s ferociously and at a speed which is at once blurry-fast and treacle-slow in my memory. With my husband by my side I finished university, got my degree, got a better job. My husband was promoted. We bought a little house we could barely afford...