On January 16, 1991, the day that George Bush Sr. launched Operation Desert Storm, I was 5 months pregnant with my son, Olek. A successful lawyer, who had never felt secure enough in my marriage to start a family, I'd decided shortly after being granted a divorce, that the most enduring relationship is that between a mother and her child. Having failed in relationships with other men while still on the rebound, and being impulsive and patient by nature, it didn't come as too much of a surprise for my family, friends and colleagues, to learn that I was pregnant by choice.

From the moment that I realized that I was pregnant, I knew instinctively that I was carrrying a boy. A "Mother's Son" is a personal essay about my decision to become a mother outside the confines of a traditional relationship and the ramifications of such a decision. As I watched with horror the televised coverage of Isreali parents securing gas masks to the little faces of their children, I became aware of the significance of my decision. Young men do not belong only to their mothers; the state in times of crisis, often lays claim to mothers' sons. Indeed, Hollywood has sensationalized the personal sacrifices of mothers losing their sons in defence of the ideals of the body politic.

I must have integrated the images of the children with gas masks into my subconscious, because after my son's first birthday, I made another decision that indelibly changed not only my life, but his. A year later, I left the practice of law and relocated to La Paz, Baja California, Mexico, where I embarked on a career as a writer. Olek and I lived in La Paz for 4 years before we moved back to Canada for his education. He is now 10 years old and as the world teeters on the brink of economic, political and ecological disaster, I can't help but churn up the same feelings of horror and fear that I felt for my son when he was still in my womb.

"A Mother's Son" is not a tragic narrrative, because through our expatriate experience in the Baja, Olek knows that there are always possibilities and that he has a choice.