I need you to know: I hated that I needed more than this from him. There is nothing more humiliating to me than my own desires. Nothing that makes me hate myself more than being burdensome and less than self-sufficient.

— CJ Hauser, “The Crane Wife”

Ten days after she called off her engagement, CJ Hauser was studying the whooping crane on the gulf coast of Texas. On the Paris Review blog, a gorgeous braided essay about a difficult decision and why it had to be made. This essay has gotten a lot of attention in the literary community, so it’s a little more on the beaten trail than I had planned on starting this project with, but it completely deserves the attention, and yours. Enjoy.

Read “The Crane Wife,” here.