If Sarah needed someone to watch her children, she called me.
If Michael needed help with an errand, he called me.
If there was a family gathering, I was expected to arrive early, prepare food, and help clean up afterward.
Nobody deliberately set out to hurt me. That was what made the situation so difficult to explain.
They simply became accustomed to my availability.
And I became accustomed to saying yes.
My husband had always been the one who reminded me that I deserved happiness, too.
Thomas used to take my hand while we sat on our little balcony and say, “Maggie, one day we’re going to travel everywhere. We’ll see the ocean, eat in restaurants where nobody knows us, and stay in bed until noon if we feel like it.”
I would laugh and tell him that we had bills to pay and responsibilities to handle.
“There will always be responsibilities,” he would reply. “That’s why you have to make room for living.”
