Joyce Fegan: When parenthood and a pandemic collide

“On the balance sheet of 2020, there will be losses and gains. Some will have far more losses than others, irretrievable ones at that”

It might sound smooth in hindsight but the feet-finding, as all parents young and old will attest, was a doubt-filled high-stakes rollercoaster of trial and error

High on oxytocin and woozy from a little too much blood loss, I lean over to my husband and say: “Let’s take her to London to see To Kill a Mockingbird in July.” It feels ecstatic saying it. And I feel delirious saying it. But the plan felt real and exciting and it summed up how I hoped to parent, with a full and daring heart.

That was this time last year.