Family
My Grandson Said, "A lot of people in my family have birthdays on the 21st!"
When picking my grandson up from driver's education, we started talking about his older brother that was visiting from Alaska. I asked if his brother would be here until his birthday. He said, he thought he was leaving next week, which meant he wouldn't be here for his birthday in April.
By Denise E Lindquist4 years ago in Confessions
A Mothers Journey
From the moment as mothers when we realize we are forming a human life we feel so many emotions: feelings of uncertainty, love, worry and the biggest one, fear. Coming from a difficult upbringing the fear of inadequacy and "Will I be a good mother" often strikes a panic in me and then a flood of sobbing. Discipling a child, I'm always thinking "Will he hate me? Am I traumatizing him?" and often I hear the echoes of my mothers voice as I yell "No!" or "Don't do that!" I've gotten to points that I've deeply regretted out of frustration but the heart of a mother is always yearning to understand our children deeper, to love them more and in ways better than we even knew as children. It doesn't come from a place of wanting to be better than our parents (necessarily) but wanting to be the parent our children deserve.
By Jordan Sophia Thomas4 years ago in Confessions
He Saved Me
I still remember the day I found out I was pregnant with my son. I had been sick for a few weeks and thought I had a stomach bug. I finally decided to take a home pregnancy test and was beyond nervous waiting for the result. I was only 18 at the time, unemployed, and my boyfriend at the time was also unemployed and irresponsible. When the test processed and said I was pregnant my first thought was not a good one.
By Paige4 years ago in Confessions
Explaining Memes to my Dad. Top Story - March 2022.
I’ve written this essay already. I don’t mean this is a second draft, or that I have some kind of block that makes me keep restarting this. I mean this essay I have already researched, written, edited and sent out once before.
By Alex Brown4 years ago in Confessions
It started at age 15...
Imagine a life where at a young age, with such a young and innocent soul, you go from innocent teenager to teen mom. Fifteen years old, She found herself a mother to a baby girl. How it came about? So lost and misguided, with no one that cared or ever paid attention to her. She felt as if it were the only thing she could do to feel she had a purpose. She remembers wanting to feel wanted and important to someone so badly. It was all a cry for attention, but nobody paid attention. Thrown out on the streets with a newborn baby, in the middle of winter. Fifteen years old. Thats how much they cared about her. Where does she go from there? Forced to be emancipated by the government so she could be legally classified as an adult, she was able to reside at local shelters. No family, no friends, still no one who cared. There were shelter staff and counselors that were nice, of course but that couldn't fill the void. Her mother was in a relationship with a man that gave her the ultimatum of choosing him or her daughter and granddaughter. Her mother chose him. Her father had been out of the picture so after that she was completely on her own. She was thankful to have her daughter, she knew that she had someone who loved her and needed her. That made her feel better, sometimes. Fast forward a little, now it's getting a little hard. No help, no babysitter so she can work or go to school... what now? She was lucky enough to find kind-hearted managers willing to look out for a young girl with lots of responsibilties, some of them would let her bring her daughter to work with her. She stays persistent, though and never did she give up. Today, time hasn't changed much. Today, now 25 and now with 4 beautiful kids she doesn't let the way she was treated as a child affect her relationships with her own kids. Instead, it has inspired her to be everything her own parents were not. To love her kids and be there every step of the way. She still has goals and dreams, she is often caught in a daze thinking what life would be like if she didn't have kids so young. She was always so bright, and had a lot to look forward to. She hopes to finish school online, but it's hard to make time for that with 4 people screaming "Mommy". She is a great mother and she loves her kids, but she feels guilty for having them before having her life together. Having them before HER own life really even started. Fifteen years old. Had she known then what she knows now, life would be completely different. These tramatic events in her life did build a strong, brave, loving and independent woman/mother. And she loves that about herself. She used pain and turned it into power.
By Dymond Burruss4 years ago in Confessions
Fear and its reality
For years, people kept poking at me, speculating about my sexuality, and cracking cruel jokes. So, when I finally admitted I was engaged to another guy, it felt like I’d thrown a match into a gasoline-soaked room. The laughter faded fast, and fear stepped in, driving a wedge between me and my family. Suddenly, my private life was up for grabs, and I faced homophobia like I’d never experienced before, even from folks who’d promised they’d be cool with it.
By Christian Bass4 years ago in Confessions
Single Mom Chronicles
I have been a single mother since 2008. I became a double-time single mom in 2015. Two men left me alone to raise two daughters. My children are quite literally my world. I lost my identity when their dads decided to leave. As I write, my only identity is being a mother. I have no social life. I have no boyfriend. Taking care of my children consumes me. I have to work to make ends meet. I still fall short. It was (and still is) suggested that I get a second job. I continue to refuse. If I am always at a job, when will I see my children? When I am away, they miss me and I miss them.
By Latoya Giles 4 years ago in Confessions
Riding The Wave
In March 2012, I moved back home, convinced by my mother, she would help me, and my 2 kids find another apartment. Before I moved out of my apartment, we were already searching for apartments because I had already put my 30-day notice in. As time got close to my approximate move-out date, my mom says, "Why don't you and the kids just move in with me until we find a place". I did not want to go back, but I had already submitted my 30-day notice, so I said, "Ok mom, but I need my place for the things I'm working on." At the time I was trying to start my home daycare. I needed to have my place badly to build the things I believe in.
By Dominique Emanuel4 years ago in Confessions
The stranger in the mirror
I met her about four and a half years ago. She was nice, I mean she never treated me differently than anyone else. I thought, I could be this woman. She’s not bad on the eyes, and she’s smart, witty, intelligent, funny, and has a lot to offer. She just had two little girls about 15 months apart, and the curves are poppin’. I loved my weight gain…at first. But then it started going downhill. I had a very traumatic experience early in 2018 that lead me down a whirlwind I thought I’d never come out of. My husband left me in a way that you wouldn’t leave your enemy. He didn’t leave me for his new girlfriend, he planned it where he would attempt to rob a bank, and get arrested. Well, he did get arrested, and later convicted for robbery and sentenced to 45 years in tdcj. Our two daughters, 1 1/2, and 6 months didn’t even know at the time what was going on. I was left with my then 13 year old son, and my baby girls by ourselves. No money, no food, nothing. See, at the time I was a stay at home mother, while he worked. We didn’t want anyone to babysit or have our daughters in daycare. We had a plan. At least at the time that’s what I thought. I was a devoted wife, and want to stick with him through the good the bad and the ugly. I thought that I was doing our marriage justice by sticking by him, and realized after he was incarcerated, that he never loved me. That was a hurt that I’ve never felt before. A hurt that broke me into a little million pieces. This time I couldn’t glue them back together. I drank alcohol, and smoked black and milds literally every day. I sat in outer space, just wondering what the hell happened to my marriage? The man I was sleeping beside since the summer of 2014, where did I go? Because I knew at that moment, the moment where the detectives escorted him out of our front door, I left with him. I stress ate, drepressed ate, felt sorry for myself ate, felt sorry for the children ate, and drank myself to sorrow. Like their was no tomorrow and I defended myself from myself. I gave myself excuses. I just knew the right things to say to myself to make me feel good. I was angry, sad, hurt, ashamed, broken, alone, and humiliated all in one sitting. Each and every day I did not recognize who I was. Then started the belly that wouldn’t go away, the fat under the chin. The back fat, the extra jiggle under the arm. I became some one else. I’ve never been this type of weight before. I hid. I didn’t want to be seen by anyone much less myself. I thought, at first, that I could pick myself back up and be ok. But this type of pain hit me to my core. This type of pain turned into self hurt I can admit. 2018 was a helluva year. Not only was my husband gone, but the kids and I had to sell everything in the house, we had to move to the city with my sister and her family. We stayed with them for seven months until I was able to get my own apartment. I felt accomplished. I felt… relieved. But I still saw the stranger in the mirror, a person I never knew. I, being who I am, thought I would get used to her, grow into her, be compassionate to her you know, show her love. But here it is 2022, and I still haven’t properly introduced myself to her yet. I want the old me back. I want the person I used to know. Here’s a thought: what if I’m not supposed to have the old me back? What if, I am to embrace the new me and just upgrade? What if I am to show the new me the love and attention and affection that I’ve never known and just reinvent? What if the choices I used to make are null and void now because the old me doesn’t and will not ever exist? I can look in the mirror now and exceed all expectations and mold the new she into me.”Hey stranger, my name is Lyteka, nice to me you.”
By Lyteka Freeman4 years ago in Confessions
The Real Life Of A Single Mom. Top Story - February 2022.
I’m becoming sentimental. While planning my daughter’s sweet sixteen birthday party, to be held in a few months, my mind has been drifting. I keep thinking about time’s swift passage. And I have been trying to come to terms with my baby turning sixteen. I am ready to celebrate this milestone in my daughter’s development, but I wish I had magical powers to turn back the hands of time.
By Dr Deborah M Vereen4 years ago in Confessions
