Sarah Balsley
stories from life
Our practice years are over.
By now we should have learned how to live.
Growing up, I secretly longed
to be the mother of a big family in a big old house,
and while I was lucky to get a good education
and have a fulfilling career,
to me this was always the prize.
One divorce, one remarriage,
and five nearly-grown children later,
what I have learned is this -
making a family is an astonishing gift,
full of moments so beautiful you dare not take a breath.
But it is also exhausting, heartbreaking,
identity-crushing work, for decades on end.
These stories are my efforts to search
for beauty and meaning
in the ordinary struggles of daily life.
I hope they strike at something universal,
a longing we share.

I see you.
I know how hard you are trying.
Praise for Sarah's stories from
Oprah's Book Club
author Jacqueline Mitchard:
"Their simplicity is like black ice."
As featured in
NPR
BRAIN
CHILD
GREENWICH COUNTRY CAPITALIST