LeoLin Bowen

My son had just lost another tooth. When he looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and asked, “Mommy is the tooth fairy real?”

Inevitably, it happens. A well-meaning (or maybe not so well-meaning) white person will utter the phrase, “Well, I just don’t see color.”

“This is what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.” My home is a cooperative house on the South Side of Chicago.

I call it the look. The slight tilt of the head confused look that people give me when they find out that I am the “weekend” parent.

I didn’t see similarities between my mother and I until years later, after I became a mother. The constant conflict hid how my mother and I are alike.

I am not the only one who is running on this hamster wheel of debt. In 2017 Americans had a revolving debt of $1,022 billion. So, dear debt, it's over!

I am usually introduced to people as “the vegan.” I get it. Vegan is the new “it” word and now you are actually meeting one.

“I just love your squishy belly!” Then, as only children can do, he gave it a nickname: belly jelly. So I'm learning to love my belly jelly.

Wonderful son of mine, I am going to let you in on a little secret. Your mother is a liar. In fact, people lie all of the time.