I'm my mother's first child, born when she was almost fourteen years old.

"Think of it," I said to Laura when I turned twelve. "I'm almost Mother Sarah's age when she was married."

Laura looked at me, her squinty eyes even more narrowed. "You could have your own old man as a husband," she said.

"Shut up," I had said.

And she had laughed.

Author: Carol Lynch Williams