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At Your Service

I am 20 years old. I am perched on a stool staring out across rolling greens, straining to see incoming dots on the horizon. Golf carts buzzing along the paved path toward my outpost for the day - a halfway house nestled in the hardwood forests and carpets of grass, lily pad ponds with the croak of frogs and heron calls. I am bored with flipping burgers and moving sausages from warming pot to grill face, freshening them up, bringing them back to life for the next customer. I hear the cart approach before I see it. Four golfers stroll up and peer through the open window. Men. Always men. I get down from my perch and stand there as they size me up. Eyes scan my body, tip of my head to tennis shoes. They move from shock of blonde, blue eyes and matching polo, khaki shorts mid-thigh. I shift my weight from left to right, smile, ask what I can get for them.

Ashley

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Let Her Be

It’s been months since I’ve last seen my college roommates and I can’t wait to catch up with them. We settle on a restaurant equidistant from us, as we are now scattered across the state. We decide this will be a “no kids” night, which makes me giddy with anticipation. We have seven kids between the three of us so a night out, a night with wine and girl talk and reminiscing, sounds blissful. Cathartic even. Except I’m dreading the one question that I know I’ll get asked: “When are you going to have another?”

Kaysie

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The Other Side of Failure

I’m failing at this balancing act - this act of playing wife and mother and career woman - I’m failing at all of it. But from the outside, from the perfectly orchestrated picture I’ve constructed for you, you would not understand. Because I don’t want you to. I’m putting forth all my effort to make sure you do not see what I don’t want you to see. My children have food and a safe, organized home. I have a husband. He smiles in our pictures and holds my hand. They are loved, my family, and they know this. In my professional life, I show up in clean clothes that are almost on trend. My hair and makeup are done, and my youthfulness can still cover what a hairstyle and lip gloss can’t. I finish my tasks on time. My patients are cared for. When I’m at work, I am there and I am stellar and I look victorious.

Ashley, Katie

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