Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Abandoned
Carrie is a very shy girl who don't talk much and has no friends at all. She is about 5 feet 6 inches, skinny girl who weight 100 pounds, and had really bad acne. In high school she was a loner. No one talked to her unless they were making fun of her. She knew she wasn't as pretty as the other girls and didn't have the things that they had. Growing up, it was just her mom and her and they were struggling on a day to day basis. Her mom turned to drugs when her dad left when Carrie was 8 years old so Carrie basically had to fend for herself everyday. Carrie was now 17 years old and when she was 15 she got a job down at the local pizza palace waiting tables to try and keep the lights on and food on the table. She also tried to get her mom some help one day but she refused.
By Tameka Smith5 years ago in Families
Like a Firefly Caught In A Jelly Jar
The sun felt warm and comforting as 17-year-old Katie fished off the edge of the pier, feet dangling. Grammy Rue sat nearby in a collapsible lawn chair, her line in the water as well. While waiting for dinner to bite, they sat in a comfortable silence that can only be established by people who know each so well, they can coexist in complete relaxation. Katie spoke first. “Mama should be back from the beauty pageant soon. She sure looked pretty, didn’t she Grammy?” “Mmm...that she did.” Grammy Rue answered simply. Katie’s mama, Cheryl was a beautiful woman. Though not a scholar or particularly interesting by any means, Cheryl commanded attention whenever she entered a room. Blessed with long, thick, wavy blonde hair, enormous blue eyes, a perfectly pert little nose, full pouty lips, and voluptuous figure, Cheryl was voted Most Beautiful in her high school and served as their head cheerleader. At 15, she began dating Bobby, two years her senior, none too bright, but tall dark and handsome, and the school’s star quarterback. Bobby got a job at the local construction plant after his graduation. All the while he continued to date his perfect princess, but unfortunately he got her pregnant during the fall of her Junior year. By winter’s end, Cheryl had dropped out of high school, begun night classes, and received her GED at the end of May, two weeks before welcoming baby Katie into the world. Cheryl was barely 17. Bobby and Cheryl tried their best, but unfortunately their best wasn’t enough. They married shortly after Katie’s birth and the young marriage lasted three years. Inevitable pressures cast upon the inexperienced couple took their toll. Money woes, arguments and infidelity on both sides ensued until they ultimately decided to part ways. Cheryl moved back home, got a job waitressing at the local diner, and made extra cash competing in local beauty pageants. Little Katie was often left with her Grammy Rue, who was more like a mother to her than Cheryl was and whom Katie loved dearly. Money was tight, but love was plentiful.
By Jacob Schleien5 years ago in Families
Dear Dr. Seuss
August 10, 2015 Dear Dr. Seuss, When I was a child we talked about all the places I would go, where this head full of brain would tell my shoes full of feet where to go. I’m sorry to report Dr. Seuss, against your wise council, I got held up in the one place you most forewarned me against, the waiting place.
By U.B. Light5 years ago in Families
The Sport Of Parenting
Just this morning, my three-year-old son threw a shoe at my head. We were out all together at a restaurant when it happened. I was not prepared for the footwear assault, but I probably should have been. What surprised me most was not that my dear son chose to beam me with one of his gross, mud-encrusted shoes, but rather that he passed up many more enticing and accessible objects to maim me with. Directly within his toddler reach was a crumb-speckled butter knife, a plastic cup filled with primary-colored crayons, a full glass of water, and a very aerodynamically designed salt shaker—yes, the kind that looks like a rocket just dying to be launched into the heavens (or a dad’s face).
By David Metzger5 years ago in Families
A Glimpse into the Future
A Glimpse into the Future She had lived with him almost three-quarters of her life. They met when they were a freshman and a senior in college, were married a year later and spent the next fifty-three years walking hand-in-hand down life’s many paths.
By Joan Kershaw Fischer5 years ago in Families
The Worldly Traveler
Many of you reading this are probably like me and have spent your entire life residing in the United States of America. Similarly, you must wonder what it’s like out there in the rest of the world. Wouldn’t you love to travel and experience new countries and cultures firsthand? This unquenchable thirst for adventure leaves many of us wondering when, if ever, we might get the opportunity to have that experience. Such is not the case for the worldly traveler that is my father, Bruce. He astonishingly has lived in seven different countries on different continents throughout the globe all before the age of 17. Bruce’s father George, my grandfather, was an American Ambassador. He and his household had the responsibility of representing America on U.S. embassies in countless countries around the world. In fact, my father was born on a US embassy base in Karachi, Pakistan! As if growing up in places like Kenya, Germany, Taiwan, and South Africa wasn’t adventurous enough, my father chose to embark on his own federal career within the military at the age of 19. Several deployments and assignments led him to new destinations across the globe for the next 30 years. Adventure lives in all of us, and for my dad, traveling had become a way of life, not just a seemingly impossible idea.
By Sara Payne5 years ago in Families
Journal 2/19
"This is ridiculous, what I am doing here, I'm in the wrong story!" Musical lyrics get stuck in my head sometimes. Jarring phrases and dissonant music, mostly from those most discordant moments in the musicals which made up my high school experience. They were compatible with my soul at the time, and they only begin to echo when my life hits the skids.
By Elizabeth Callison5 years ago in Families
The Wells Ravine Time Machine
Six months after my dad died, Mr. Wells made an announcement to the town council: he planned to sell his ravine for $15,000 to a man who wanted to create a reservoir. This posed a problem, because I was still looking for the time machine in the tunnels that led off from the ravine. My best friend Freddie and I made a pact: we would stop the dam, if we couldn’t find the time machine first.
By S.E. Hartz5 years ago in Families
Stories from My Father
It was a desperately hot day. The sun brutally beat down on the men’s already sweaty backs. You can see the thin material sticking to their sun burnt skin that looks orange now under the bright golden orb. Beads of sweat glisten on their arms as they raise their hoes to loosen the sandy soil.
By Cindy Chen5 years ago in Families
Sincerely, Amelia
Dear little black notebook today is march 13th just two days after I got you. Do you ever think about why all the bad stuff happens to someone? Or maybe why you are lucky enough to only have the good? why. Why is it possible to have the worst day of your entire existence but then you stumble (trip over in my case) something so amazing it just makes you totally forget how terrible that day really is. Well I had a day like that. It was the day I got you the notebook I'm writing in right now, it all started on Monday which is without a doubt the worst day of the entire week.
By Sarah Riggs5 years ago in Families
