My Water Broke in a Taxi While My Life Was Falling Apart—What the Driver Did Still Makes Me Cry

By the time my mother died, I felt like something inside me had already gone quiet. She was my anchor, my first call, the one person I thought would still be there when everything else fell apart. I was nine months pregnant when we buried her. I remember standing at the grave, one hand on my swollen belly, thinking, At least I’m not alone. I still have my family.

I was wrong.