One June morning years ago, during a cross-country bike trip, my brothers, a couple of friends, and I sat in a diner in Sandpoint, Idaho, waiting for a drizzle to pass, eating eggs and drinking coffee. The coffee, as I recall, was no great shakes. It likely came in thick, bone-white mugs, the rims pitted and slightly stained from years of use. We were just becoming aware of gourmet coffee in those days.

This will be the first Mother’s Day that I feel like I finally understand the truth about motherhood and management and the balance between the two—namely, that it’s impossible. Here’s how I came to that once-somber, now-joyous conclusion. My eldest graduated from high school last year. As she left for a college 1,628 miles away and her friends scattered literally all over the world and my house and heart were suddenly empty, I realized how fleeting everything is.

March 16, 2016 9:59 AM EDT Maybe you have a good sob every week, or haven’t shed a tear in years. Either way, if you’re human, you’ve shed an emotional tear or two. That makes you unique among the world’s species: though other creatures tear up because of physical pain or irritation, we are the only ones whose tears can be triggered by their emotions. But why do we cry? That question has persisted for centuries (and is the subject of a recent feature article in TIME).

Two researchers from the University of Utah and Oklahoma sought to explore having a high body count using data from various sources. What's the effect of having a high body count? 1. Less marital satisfaction ADVERTISEMENT These researchers discovered that men and women who had more premarital sex partners were shown to be less satisfied with their marriages, according to Legkauskas and Stankeviciene (2009).