There were stretches when I genuinely did not know how Grace and I would make it to the end of the month, when the math was simply impossible and I got us through on nerve and luck and the kindness of a few people who saw a young mother trying and decided to help.

I learned, in those years, exactly how thin the margin is for a woman raising a child alone, how one broken-down car or one missed shift can bring the whole fragile structure down.

And I learned that I was stronger than I had ever had any reason to believe, because I did not break, though there were days I came close.

And through all of it, there was Grace.