Reclaiming My Path

o cooking in

putation suffered because o

orced me to give my adm

jobs after graduation, and rose to prominen

my feet, toiling in the village with the kids

f four, or maybe five,

shouted inside the house. "Come h

m and snapped, "Does she have no hands or feet? She's

t's a small thing. Why are you making a f

generous. Why don't yo

ad. "Natalia Ford, stop being ridiculous! Tonya and I are i

go on! Natalia, how could you say that abo

ouldn't have gone into the river to save you. My name's tainted, and I have

the door, but Ge

to act like those vicious women and d

to change her clothes means I'm driving h

amatic performance

thes, and made her soup, but she never appreciated it

er, struggling i

th our three-year-old son, her face dark as she eyed them. "Gerard,

released Tonya and said, "Mom, I fell in by

river, Tonya said you saved her. Now at home, she

why are you being so sarcastic today? Don't you trust me an

, how much more open-mind

voted fifty years

ation, cared for his mother

with another woman and told our k

I clenched my teeth and t

talia, make some soup. Add

y after I started cooking did I realize I was doing it a

s, following his orders and tending t