Yolandi’s Divided Adulthood

This flow follows Yolandi’s unstable adult life as a writer, parent, daughter, and sister trying to meet demands that exceed her certainty.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Rodeo Writer

Work That Pays A Commercial Life Yolandi writes a successful series about Rodeo Rhonda, earning enough to help with household costs and groceries. Her publisher eventually expects her to move beyond rodeo stories into a more literary book. An Uncertain Next Step Yolandi wants to write something different but doubts her ability to make the new work function. The shift in career mirrors her wider sense that adulthood has not made her more certain of who she is.

The Fraying Marriage

A Marriage Coming Apart Two Ex-Husbands Yolandi reflects on her marriages, her two children, and the conflicts with Dan that continue through messages and apologies. She knows that she has contributed to the damage even as she struggles to understand it. An Unsteady Identity Her intimate life becomes a source of embarrassment and self-accusation. She is trying to parent, work, and care for Elfrieda while her own relationships seem to be dissolving at once.

The Brief Affairs

Seeking Comfort New Intimacies Yolandi sleeps with Radek and later reconnects with Finbar and Jason. Her choices arise amid exhaustion, loneliness, and the collapse of a long marriage rather than from a coherent plan for a new life. Shame and Self-Recognition She calls herself names and fears being a poor model for Nora. Elfrieda challenges the judgment behind those labels, making the relationship an opportunity for both humor and a harder question about shame.

The Caregiver’s Anger

At the Limit Anger in Public Yolandi erupts at a stranger in the hospital parking lot and later confronts Elfrieda with the accumulated grievances of being the less celebrated, less composed sister. Her outbursts reveal how fear has overwhelmed her ability to keep her feelings orderly. A Need for Reciprocity She wants Elfrieda to acknowledge Yolandi’s own pain and offer sisterly support. The anger is unfair in places, but it makes visible a need Yolandi has long subordinated to other people’s crises.

A New Household

Continuing After Loss A Different Home Yolandi buys a damaged house and brings Lottie and Nora to live with her. The new household is not a cure, but it gives them shared work and daily company. A Life Still Unfinished Yolandi continues to write, parent, and remember. Her future does not become simple; it becomes something she can inhabit with the help of her mother and daughter.

Before Yolandi moves from Winnipeg to Toronto

In the months around Elfrieda’s hospitalization

During the early Winnipeg hospital visits

After Tina’s heart emergency and Elfrieda’s transfer to psychiatry

After Elfrieda’s death, during the move to Toronto