The four minutes were my answer.

They were the intent forms, the declaration that I was stepping forward, that I was her blood, that I was not going to think about it or sleep on it or pay for a few things from a distance.

Twenty families had taken their time and said no.

I did not need time.

I signed my name with a steady hand, quickly and without a single hesitation, because there was nothing in me left to decide.

People sometimes ask me whether I was afraid, in that moment, of what I was taking on, of the size of it, of the particular challenges of raising a child with additional needs on my own.