My mother noticed first.
One morning, after taking Emma and Lily for a walk, she said:
Claire, you also need time for yourself.
I laughed tired.
- With two twins? Good luck.
You don’t have to do something spectacular. Go out for coffee. Read a book. Meet a friend. You don’t have to feel guilty for every hour you’re not next to them.
I listened to her.
At first, I only went out for a twenty-minute walk alone.
Then I ran into a friend from college.
Later, I started working a few hours a week on my design projects, an activity I had interrupted towards the end of the task.
Slowly, I began to recognize myself again.
I was no longer just the woman cheated in the harbor.
I Was Claire.
I was Emma’s mother and Lily.
I was the daughter of some parents who had supported me without asking me for anything in return.
