My Mother by Mae Setrova

“In another world, my mother does not become a mother. She doesn’t meet my dad or at the very least, she never falls in love with him. Instead, she goes to a college out of state and pursues her dream of becoming a nurse and she travels the world in her free time, taking photos in France and trying new foods in Tokyo, and maybe she adopts a dog, a four-year-old golden retriever named Sparky, who sees the world with her and she never has to wonder about what if’s in life because she is too busy living it. In another world, I do not exist, but my mother gets to live, not just survive.”