Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Baby's All Grown Up
Baby’s All Grown Up I remember the first time I found out I was pregnant with you. My firstborn. I prayed for you for twelve years. I prayed for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby. I remember you growing in my tummy. Watching you move gracefully, and gently in my tummy. Watching my belly ripple as you turned over.
By Ms Samurai5 years ago in Families
A Gate to the Past
A Gate to the Past The call came before sunrise. Those are the calls you dread. You hope it’s a wrong number but fear the worst: Maybe one of your kids died in a fiery crash or an old friend’s in the emergency room. Or, if you’re lucky, it’s just one of your ex-wives wanting to get back together for a second try.
By John Little5 years ago in Families
Bitcoin Origins
One small boy traumatized from financial tragedy singlehandedly innovated the concept of currency like an invisible hand. Resilience is best seen in the lives of those that have faced significant challenge especially those that have been systemically marginalized. But who knew that resiliency could have given birth to the future of cryptocurrency? Jonah Abraham Blackmoor remembers seeing his grandmother screaming, “My God, my children are gone”, from a phone call. That day turned into days, weeks, and ultimately years. At that moment he became an orphan who would learn how to be a man from an even greater man, in whose shadow he would enjoy bittersweet success. His mother and father were killed in a car crash and he was now in the full-time care of his grandparents. They had all lived together so it was not a big adjustment, but the ache of no more mom and dad never faded.
By TanYah Global5 years ago in Families
Waiting for Charlotte Rose
His palms were sweaty. That was what she noticed. They left a trail of thin residue over the taught swell of her stomach as she turned away from him in the bed, hoping to ease the ache in her lower back against his own abdomen. “She’s on the move again…” he murmured and splayed his fingers to better feel. “She’s a wriggler,” she responded, and arched her back the better to get some respite from the gnawing sensation of dulled, aching pain. “She’s constantly on the move – just like her daddy.”
By Emily McRae5 years ago in Families
Lessons Learned
Sitting on the top step of the front the porch Madelyn basked in the sun's rays. The warmth seemed to penetrate her flesh warming her very bones. Indian summer settled in comfortably on this late October day. She was perfectly relaxed, luxuriating in the warmth, listening to the birds and enjoying the fact that she was outside instead of cooped up in the house. Richard and Dennis were at school as they always were this time of year. Each morning the bus came before she awakened and carried her brothers to town. Someday she would be on that bus headed for school. She was certain she wouldn’t like it. She didn’t like strangers. There would be a lot of strangers at school. You had to stay all day and couldn’t come home when you wanted. She didn't like to think about leaving Momma all day.
By Pamela Styles5 years ago in Families
Granny's Sunday Dinner
Madelyn was coloring a page from a book that Granny had gotten in the mail. It was a warm summer afternoon. Grandpa was working in the big garden out back. Roy was napping as he usually did in the afternoons. Granny came in from the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron.
By Pamela Styles5 years ago in Families
A Voice for His Heart
The past two weeks were a blur. There was too much to do as Jenna struggled to figure it out. She paid another month’s rent so there was time to clean out the apartment her older, reclusive, and abrasive brother inhabited for nearly a decade. Finding him slumped in his chair, the television still blasting, his tv tray waiting patiently for her to arrive with his lunch, a lunch he would not get to enjoy. It had been Jenna’s routine since she could remember to bring a hot lunch to her brother every Sunday. She did his grocery shopping every Saturday. She cleaned his kitchen when it simply became unbearable to her, all the while listening docilely as he ranted and raved about the world going to Hell.
By Pamela Styles5 years ago in Families
The Road Trip
‘Have you got your GPS with you?’ my father’s tone rang sternly in my ears. ‘Yes, yes’. ‘I’ve taken it with me’. Not true, I thought to myself. But I didn’t need another pre-emptory lecture and he didn’t need to know I’d already looked it up online the night before. I’d already thought of the routes, planned which exit to take, given myself every opportunity to be emotionally available to my mother for the duration of the journey. She jumped into the passenger seat of my fading blue Hybrid vehicle, and I automatically glanced to the rear to see the child’s car seat notably empty.
By Charmaine Bonnefille5 years ago in Families
Momma's Little Black Book
It took a few minutes before I realized the smell of dinner burning was coming from our kitchen. Oh no. Heart racing, I ran for the oven and yanked it open to see if there was anything left to be salvaged before Momma walked in the front door. It didn’t do any good because the smoke that filled my face and lungs left me blinded and gagging for air.
By Riley Luviek5 years ago in Families
