This is the Ma . The sacred pause.
I am no longer a tourist in this country, nor am I a seasoned local. I am something in between: a mother waiting for a second child to arrive. The cherry blossoms have long since fallen. The rainy season came and went. Now, it is the dog days of summer, and the cicadas ( minminzemi ) are screaming their death song. It feels appropriate. Something old is about to end. Something new is about to scream. Just before the birth again- Japan- Pregnant- U...
My firstborn, a toddler with gravity-defying hair and a love for onigiri , is napping in the next room. He has no idea that his world is about to split in two. I look at his small hand, curled around a plastic shinkansen toy, and I feel the guilt already. The quiet, universal guilt of the mother who dares to love another child. This is the Ma
Let’s not romanticize it too much. I am scared. I am something in between: a mother waiting