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?”

Be careful what you wish for because at eight years old my son is exactly like his father in this aspect. I'm now raising an outgoing kid and I'm reserved.

I was a good girl from the start. Now I am speaking up, setting boundaries, saying no to the things I don’t want and yes to the things that I do.

You are about to embark on a journey that you will be talking about and remembering for the rest of your life, so spend these next year’s enjoying it.

“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 knew there was still a culture of fear surrounding black people, but this was the first time I had experienced a person scared of black people.

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.

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.

What is different now is that I know who I am and what I want. I’m not afraid to be alone and living single. I value my time and my health.

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.