I wasn’t prepared for what Catherine was about to tell me.
“I’m going to try to get pregnant next week,” she blurted out without any context.
Catherine just turned 19 years old. She still lives at home with a controlling mother. Her father killed himself when she was young. She doesn’t yet know how to drive and has to beg for rides to and from a menial job. She’s never had any romantic relationships, but she’s recently started slipping away from home to meet men for sex.
Just last week, she told me about how one such man — who she met online — picked her up and took her to a camper about an hour away from her. (She told her mother she was at a friend’s house.) They had sex for a couple of days, then he abruptly brought her back home — and then he disappeared from her life.
Now, she’s met another man online and she plans to meet him Sunday night. She’s never seen him in real life, but she’s planning to make sure he gets her pregnant. And she looked shocked when I told her that this plan was stupid and selfish.

Corrupt Trump isn’t even hiding half-billion dollar bribe anymore
I can force child to obey me, but obedience comes with high cost
Drug warrior claims weed killed 37, but you and I can be just as blind
In the face of hazardous times, some still driven to be helpers
I don’t care where Pedro is from, but I’m happy he’s my neighbor
FRIDAY FUNNIES
Never give up; you may be closer to your goals than you can see
Bureaucrats will find a way to punish you, so don’t make ’em mad
Life is full of choices, but some require us to ‘come before winter’