TIME

Kate Bowler

The Duke professor talks about her new memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved, and parenting with an incurable cancer diagnosis

How do you live with so much uncertainty? I don’t know what I would have done if I weren’t a mom. When you have a 2-year-old, he is not interested in your feelings or problems. The hilarious narcissism of toddlers was really freeing for me. Then I had all kinds of other problems. I am supposed to get tenure. But what if I don’t live through the year?

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