I loved this article.

I am an artist. I had always been talented but in the beginning of my life, I didn't understand that art was a real choice, that it could be a real career and that one had to nurture and work and commit to it. Talent is one thing, being an artist is something else.

So I married young and had two children and when things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, I had to think about taking care of my little family. Entirely by accident I discovered I could could earn a living making art and design commercially.

So within four years of simultaneously working and going to school, I found myself in love with painting and at a crossroads: children or art.

I thought I could choose art at first. But as I began drawing up a plan it became clear the kids would suffer. So ultimately, I had to go the other way.

My love of painting, my dream of pushing myself to the limit, my willingness to be poor, living and working at anything to keep body and soul together in Manhattan, to explore where this gift would go had to be put aside. I could not have my kids living on the lower east side in a tiny slum apartment. I couldn't ask them to walk away from what little stability we had so I could indulge creation. And I couldn't straddle two worlds.

My sons were my first creation and they didn't ask to be born. I gave them life and at this point there wasn't an alternative to ME that was viable. My destiny hadn't included figuring all this out BEFORE I gave life to them.

We made it by the skin of our teeth because I still had to work, long hard hours. In the end, they are grown and happy and I paint now. I know that I still have my gift but I do wonder how I would have developed had I not walked away when I did. I think about that...what would have cooked up in me at that very juicy time in my life.

What little regret I have is set aside because I know I did my best for all of us. I gave my sons much more than I would have, had I been obsessively focused on me and my output.

I envy and don't envy the Alice Walkers of the world. They were lucky to have partners who helped raise their children. I suspect these children with their perceived ills, will forgive those talented parents as they grow older and understand that life and living is not all about them. As I see it, life is about contributing what you can afford, whether it is art or healthy children, for good or bad or not.

But right now, Rebecca Walker is in the throes of being naive and young and hormonal and filled with strong certainty and judgments. My guess is, she would admit her life was good overall. She is educated, loved, strong, healthy and had the best of both worlds - domestic and creative.

Had I had a partner who could have shared parenting, I would have grabbed the opportunity. But I didn't. Is life and time and existence better or worse because one artist couldn't follow a muse when youth and temper might have combined to create a powerful vision? Who knows? And in the end, it really didn't matter. Life moved smoothly around me.