Returning to the social housing building I grew up in with an infant pushed me to take a 10-year detour that changed my life.

a:3:{i:0;s:597:"<style>.cbR{box-sizing:border-box;display:block;width:100%;margin:1em 0;border:1px solid #bbb;padding:.5em}@media (min-width:480px){.cbR{width:250px;margin:0 0 1em 1em;float:right}}</style><div class="cbR"><a href="https://chatelaine.com/living/choices-mothers-daughters/" target="_blank"><img style="max-width:100%" src="https://chatelaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GirlOnSwing.jpg" alt="" /></a><a href="https://chatelaine.com/living/choices-mothers-daughters/" target="_blank"><strong>Why I chose not to have a second child - and let go of the daughter I'd always wanted</strong></a></div>";i:1;s:593:"<style>.cbR{box-sizing:border-box;display:block;width:100%;margin:1em 0;border:1px solid #bbb;padding:.5em}@media (min-width:480px){.cbR{width:250px;margin:0 0 1em 1em;float:right}}</style><div class="cbR"><a href="https://chatelaine.com/living/raising-biracial-children/" target="_blank"><img style="max-width:100%" src="https://chatelaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Tasneem_family_1280x960.jpg" alt="" /></a><a href="https://chatelaine.com/living/raising-biracial-children/" target="_blank"><strong>'Mummy, am I white?' What I've learned from raising biracial children</strong></a></div>";i:2;s:644:"<style>.cbR{box-sizing:border-box;display:block;width:100%;margin:1em 0;border:1px solid #bbb;padding:.5em;font-family:proxima-nova,sans-serif;font-size:1.6rem;line-height:1.8rem}.cbR img{padding-bottom:0.5rem;}@media (min-width:480px){.cbR{width:250px;margin:0 0 1em 1em;float:right}}</style><div class="cbR"><a href="https://chatelaine.com/newsletter/" target="_blank"><img style="max-width:100%" src="https://chatelaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pancakes600x500.jpg" alt="" /></a><a href="https://chatelaine.com/newsletter/" target="_blank"><strong>Subscribe to our daily newsletter — you'll thank us in the morning</strong></a></div>";}

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memoir

Living

Choices

My own daughter taught me about the bond of biological love. But I was about to discover how devoted I could become to other people's children.

The first time I felt a yearning for her, I was 33 years old and already had a son. At 38, I understood she was not to be.

When my husband died, I felt gutted and broken. Slowly, I'm finding ways to let him go while also keeping him alive for my girls — and myself.

a:2:{s:4:"time";d:1498654818;s:6:"author";i:861299;}

Zubdah Ahmad had just moved back to Toronto from England with a law degree and a young family when she discovered that her son had leukemia.

memoir

Why I went back to school as a single mother

My New Boyfriend Has 3 Kids. I Wondered: Would I Have Any Love Left To Give Them?

Why I chose not to have a second child — and let go of the daughter I'd always wanted

My new life as a young widow and single mom

'There are two ways you can deal with this': Parenting a child through cancer