On my first day, twelve women sat in a bright room above a neighborhood library.

Some were returning to work after raising children.

Others were rebuilding after divorce, illness, layoffs, or difficult family situations.

I began with a blank sheet of paper.

“Before we talk about budgets,” I said, “I want you to write down one choice about money you wish belonged to you.”

A woman in the back raised her hand.

“What if the answer is all of them?”

“Then that’s where we begin.”