ABSTRACT
I'm a small town girl from northwestern Ohio. Married at 18, we had two daughters who are now 23 and 21. My first husband and I divorced after nine years. I remarried in 1975, and my husband left me after eleven years. I felt worthless when he left me. I started a relationship with B on my 39th birthday. He was 29. We married in 1988. He died of AIDS in 1990. A few days later, I found out that I was HIV+. I composed this letter in 1990 when I had not yet told my oldest daughter. In 1991,I told her. My hope is that when I die and someone asks my daughters what I died of, they can say, my mother had AIDS and not feel ashamed.
