What Makes a Mother? Suffering
By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN
Published: May 11, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-mother-suffering.htmlBELGRADE LAKES, Me.
ONE day, toward the end of my transition from father to mother, I came home to find my 6-year-old son looking thoughtful. "Are you all right?" I asked.
"Yes," Sean said quietly. He was playing with Thomas the Tank Engine. His favorite engine was No. 5, red James. That had also been my name, back before it became Jenny.
"What are you thinking?"
"It's just it used to be you and me and Zach, the three boys on one side," he said, "and Mommy and Lucy-dog on the other."
"I know," I said, feeling my heart clench.
"Now it's Zach and me on one side, and you and Mommy and Lucy-dog over there."
"I'm sorry, Sean," I said. My voice was barely a whisper. "I'm so sorry."
"It's O.K.," said Sean. "The boys are just outnumbered."
