Sign It Yourself
The year I was at my most starry-eyed, I gave up my chance to study overseas.
Over my parents' furious objections I married my boyfriend and took in the abandoned baby he'd picked up off the side of the road.
From that day on I poured everything I had into that household and into raising that child.
Thirty years of it. And just when our son was grown and settled and I thought I might finally get to breathe, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The treatment cost a fortune. I was about to reassure my husband and my son that I had the money.
Instead, they got angry.
"What do you mean, your money? That's this family's money. This disease is a bottomless pit. You could throw everything