This Is How It Always Is

The narrator, Dr. Rosie Walsh, is the mother of four small boys—Roosevelt, Ben, and twins Rigel and Orion—with a fifth child on the way. She, her writer husband, Penn, and their children live in Madison, Wisconsin. Penn works from home while she spends her nights working as a doctor in UW Hospital. Rosie performs a number of superstitious rituals in the hopes of giving birth to a girl. She hopes to name the girl Poppy, after her younger sister who died of cancer at the age of 10. When they were children, Poppy noted Rosie’s talent for braiding hair, telling her: “Your daughter’s going to be so lucky” (9). Other mothers, teachers, and neighbors subtly criticize Rosie, pressing her as to why she had so many children. Rosie reflects that perhaps she has conceived so many times because she is trying for a girl to fill the void of her sister’s death. This first chapter also details how Rosie and Penn juggle careers and four children: “One day at a time. One foot in front of another. All for one” (8).