I\u2019ve never been good at giving news. I wanted to be a journalist in college, but I kept crying when I listened to NPR, so I chose comedy instead. <\/p>\n
With that in mind, it was a Saturday night, and I had just picked my then-boyfriend Gabe up for our hot date: feeding spaghetti to the unhoused. He gave me the classic awkward car hug and kissed me. He told me his sister just had her first baby. Seeing this as the perfect segue, I told him I, too, was having a baby except I wasn\u2019t keeping mine. He blinked at me. <\/p>\n
So I did what any woman of a certain generation might do in this situation. I played him Enya\u2019s greatest hit, \u201cOnly Time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lyrics were eerie and ethereal:
\u201cWho can say where the road goes?
Where the day flows? Only time\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabe became sick in the following days and didn\u2019t talk much. Not that he talked much to begin with, but now he was practically nonverbal. He felt personally responsible for the situation, but I couldn\u2019t blame him. I was there too. Did I consider that I come from a long line of fertile women or that this was how babies were made? No, I wasn\u2019t exactly thinking.<\/p>\n
Originally from North Carolina, Gabe, who played drums, moved to Los Angeles just a year prior with his two musician brothers. Out of place but finding his groove in long, solitary nights of painting and playing music with his family, he was living an artistic, albeit quiet, life. During the day, he worked as a substitute teacher, and I worked at being a stand-up comedian in L.A., which, if you look closely enough, is not work at all. I was underemployed. A baby wasn\u2019t in our cards. Besides, I had my career to focus on.<\/p>\n
I called Kaiser Permanente and asked for an abortion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take one abortion, please.\u201d I asked like I was ordering a pizza.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d like to terminate a pregnancy?\u201d the person on the other end of the line confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, an abortion,\u201d I repeated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen would you like your termination?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaiser directed me to Planned Parenthood. The closest clinic I could find that could do the abortion the soonest (two weeks from then) was in Lawndale. That was two hours away from where I was living at my childhood home.<\/p>\n
I had my brother drive me with my sister in the backseat. I went to the appointment and waited three hours to be seen. I waited so long that they played the first two \u201cTwilight\u201d movies on the small overhead TV. Women of all ages sat in the waiting room, darting their eyes, looking for connection and distraction. The only thing I could bring myself to do was put on red lipstick and take selfies. They told me the baby was 5 weeks old. The nurse was nice in a customer service way. She told me to expect chunks.<\/p>\n
That week, I shot a comedy sketch. Entitled \u201cHow To Get Rid of COVID in 5 Easy Steps!,\u201d I acted out five very fake ways to get rid of COVID-19. It got 110,000 views on TikTok.<\/p>\n
A month later, I hosted a comedy variety show at El Cid on Sunset Boulevard. Around that same time, Roe vs. Wade was potentially going to be reversed, and Texas outlawed abortions. So I made some joke about my beat-up car and abortions that went something like this: \u201cI\u2019m really glad I got my abortion in California because if I were in Texas, I couldn\u2019t drive out of state. I have a 1999 Toyota Camry \u2014 it just couldn\u2019t handle it.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s how Gabe\u2019s brothers found out. Me talking on a mic to 60 strangers in a Spanish restaurant on a Wednesday. We didn\u2019t discuss it after. I posted the joke online a few weeks later: 2,892 views on TikTok.<\/p>\n
Soon after, my sister told me she had seen Gabe on a dating app. We broke up soon after that. I processed it the only way I knew how \u2014 once again by telling jokes to strangers. \u201cMy ex was really into door hardware. (Beat.) He was on Hinge. My sister told me he was on Hinge. I don\u2019t recommend that. (Beat.) Having a sister.\u201d It ended up with 19,600 views on Instagram.<\/p>\n
A few months post-breakup, Gabe came over. After having sex, he was washing up in the bathroom, and I was in the bedroom. I called out to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you ever think about the fact that we almost had a kid?\u201d<\/p>\n
His reply was instant. \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the time\u201d played like a mantra in my head for days. It rang out to me in my sleep, in my waking life. I wanted to replay my 20s, to rewind, to fast-forward, to choose differently. I would try to see myself with a child. They\u2019d be 4 years old now. Gabe would be there. We\u2019d be living together in North Carolina where he\u2019s from. We\u2019d be happy. I\u2019d be writing. He\u2019d be painting. We\u2019d have big windows and a backyard.<\/p>\n
Recently, Gabe moved back to North Carolina. I\u2019ve stopped performing. When I think of foregoing a baby for a comedy career, I think: What career? I work as a copywriter. No awards to my name. Nobody recognizes me. I never made it to 100,000 followers. At the time of writing this, I have 3,390 followers on Instagram. Just 96,610 to go.<\/p>\n
I think of Gabe and think of him thinking about it. The potential kid, the aborted future. I wonder if he mourns it too. He must. Like a botched cover of Enya\u2019s greatest hit, his voice calls out to me from the wall between us.<\/p>\n
All the time. All the time. All the time.<\/p>\n
Emma Estrada is a writer and comedian living in Glassell Park. She co-hosts Confessions, a monthly reading series. Learn more about it on Instagram: @confessions.reading<\/a>.<\/p>\n L.A. Affairs<\/a> chronicles the search for romantic love in all its glorious expressions in the L.A. area, and we want to hear your true story. We pay $400 for a published essay. Email LAAffairs@latimes.com<\/a>. You can find submission guidelines here. You can find past columns here<\/a>. Editor\u2019s note: Have a dating story to tell about starting fresh? Share it at L.A. Affairs Live, our new competition show featuring real dating stories from people living in the Greater Los Angeles area. Find audition details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n