I became a mother at 35. I’d been somewhat ambivalent about having children, and Derek and I were married for six years before we had our first child, Diego. During those six years, I went to grad school, began teaching, and started writing a novel. Derek worked in commercial real estate with his dad by day and played guitar and wrote songs by night. He even asked me to learn how to drum, so that we could form a band. I did, and we did. Our lives were full and we were content, but we decided to try to have a baby. Born March 14, 2006, Diego became the love of our lives.