cnu-At my fortieth birthday party, my sister swung a baseball bat into…

for the damage.

Brooklyn was Vanessa’s child.

Emma was mine.

For Emma’s fifteenth birthday in January, we kept the celebration small. No extended family. No cousins. No grandparents. Just Derek’s parents, two of Emma’s closest friends, her softball coach, and Jenny from my office, who had become an honorary aunt through casseroles and blunt honesty.

Emma continue reading …