Strong Girl, Brave Girl: A single mother’s story of reconciling a life unexpected and navigating the messy in-between

When life-changing pain is coupled with the welcoming of a new story for yourself, the word bittersweet just doesn’t do it justice. You are quite literally in the middle - anchored between where you thought you were headed and where you’re going now. In that uncertain middle space is where this story takes place, and maybe where you find yourself, too. The life Kelsey Baldwin had imagined for herself, the one she was right in the middle of, quickly crumbled around her on a single day as she was faced with a looming divorce while staring at a positive pregnancy test. It wasn’t the way it was supposed to go. With each uncertain transition she went through - divorce, pregnancy, giving birth, moving cities, dating, raising a child without a partner - she clung to what she knew for sure: she was a strong girl and a brave girl, and the middle was not the ending. (Spoiler: that’s why it’s called the middle.)My story might look really different than yours, but I’m willing to bet you find threads from my messy middle that are also woven into yours.