I’m an author, so I am a bit fractured in the way I react to the world. For instance, I read Lisa Endlich Heffernan’s excellent post on Huffington Post,  Why I Regret Being a Stay-at-Home Mom, through the lens of my own experience and as my characters. I recommend you read Ms. Heffernan’s piece. It is poignant and thought provoking. If you’d like to read my personal reaction to the piece, I wrote about that on my other blog – Scribbling In the Storage Room.

When I read Ms. Heffernan’s article I thought about the ladies of Overlook. The two main characters in Overlook are both stay-at-home moms. Stacia Curran chose to stay home with her children while ruling her real estate empire. Kitty stumbled into the role through a series of bad decisions. Kitty regrets being a stay-at-home mom. She had dreams of having a career as a museum curator. She wanted to leave her repressive buttoned up childhood behind and be her own person. Motherhood and marriage short circuited those dreams. No amount of beautifully decorated cupcakes and luxuries could make up for her dashed hopes. She would identify with the statement: “The most expensive decision of my life I made alone.”