Mutha Magazine Article Allison ● (VALIDATED)

As told to Mutha

It has been fourteen months since the cereal aisle. Allison is not “cured.” She still loves her children with a ferocity that frightens her. She still packs lunches sometimes, but now it’s because she wants to, not because she believes the universe will collapse if she doesn’t. She still cries in the car. She still has days where she wants to walk into the ocean.

Her kids are fine, by the way. They forgot their lunches twice. They wore mismatched socks to picture day. They complained. They adapted. They now know how to boil an egg, how to set a reminder on their phones, how to ask their father where the sunscreen is without running it through their mother first. mutha magazine article allison

Then another: “Reminder: Soccer pictures tomorrow. White jersey, shin guards, no jewelry.”

It wasn’t a fight. It wasn’t a diagnosis. It wasn’t even a tantrum. As told to Mutha It has been fourteen

The Unbecoming: Allison on Shedding the Good Mother Myth

Her phone buzzed: a text from the school nurse. “Mila has a headache. Please pick up.” She still cries in the car

A store employee in a blue vest crouched next to her. “Ma’am? Do you need me to call an ambulance?”