From Mud to Lotus: An Education

Summary

My mother, Sarah Davis, was a celebrated educator, a state-level specialist teacher.

The pressure of the upcoming SATs was immense, and my depression chose that moment to rear its ugly head.

She, with a forced laugh she probably thought was witty, declared,

"I simply don't have the time for your theatrics."

Then, she turned her back on me, focusing instead on her star pupils, the ones she was grooming for Ivy League glory.

I was left abandoned at the doorstep of my father's house, a home he now shared with his new family, a life he'd built after his divorce from my mother.