We tread the fine line between having everything and coming up short. We prioritized Claire’s education, a private school, to challenge her and kept her out of trouble resulting from too much idle time.

Claire wanted to be Daenerys Targaryen, for her Halloween party. I choked on the price of a store-bought outfit. Opening my sewing cabinet, I pulled lengths of fabric, pinned and sewed and created costume fit for the Mother of Dragons. She twirled before the mirror, ecstatic with her one-of-a-...