My Cardboard Balcony

Auntie Allison had never minded the idea of being a domestic housewife. In fact, the concept of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her children felt like a dream to her. Sure, many of her more feminist friends bugged her about the subject once she got married. The maid of honor at her wedding, Sheila, swore to remain single forever. She worked as a doctor at the local hospital. “Women should be empowered to do anything they want,” Auntie Allison said to me when I was visiting her, “and I wanted to be a mother.”