Losing My Shame in L.A.

Becoming a Single Mother Felt Like Disgrace—Until My New Home Helped Me

I moved to Los Angeles when I was a new mother. I was 25, and JD, the father of my child, was 16 years my senior. In the previous two years, we had moved from New York City to Ohio, to the Hamptons, back to New York, and then to Idaho. JD, a chef, always had a hard time getting along with colleagues. Whenever he’d quit or get fired (and one or the other would usually happen within a year), he’d move us to a different city.

I was naïve and …