Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
The Inheritance
Dear Journal, Day 0 My grandfather had always been a bit of an oddity. He started chain-smoking cigars before the age of 16, and bourbon was his water of choice for as long as I can remember. For my fifteenth birthday, he took me to the seediest strip club in the county. The bourbon and bills were tossed around so freely that the next morning I awoke in the drunk tank alone, I later found out my 75-year-old grandfather awoke in the bedroom of a stripper barely older than myself. My parents forbade me from seeing him at that point and cut him completely out of the family. I had no idea where he had gone, only that he had left Michigan.
By Bradley Bliss5 years ago in Families
The Wise Old Man
The wind was rustling through the trees and making a pleasant sound. The ground was green with grass, save for some flowers sprinkled about. The sun and the clouds melded together into a perfect harmony, and the field beyond was growing a lovely assortment of crops.
By Gabriel Mohr5 years ago in Families
My Story
My story is going to start from the beginning and end with the man in this picture, the man who is my husband. It started out with me being abandoned at birth by my birth father and it just being my mother. I was raised by my mother, grandfather and grandmother who is no longer with us and I miss her every day. My birth father never wanted anything to do with me ever. He was an alcoholic and not the kind of person you wanted in your life. I recently tried to reach out to him, I finally started to wonder. I mean I always wondered throughout my entire life who he was and what he was like, but at nearly 34 years of age I finally wanted to reach out. So I researched and scoped out Facebook for anyone I thought might know him, and guess what? I did it. I found someone. I talked to that person got to know them a little bit and asked if I could give them my number to give to him, so he could give him a call if he felt up to it. I guess I am a dreamer who dreamt up a dream to big because I waited for that call for 3 months and heard nothing from this man that is supposed to be my birth father. In a way I got my hopes up and thought that maybe, just a little bit of me thought just maybe he would call after nearly 34 years of not knowing or ever hearing anything about his daughter. I'm not the kind of person to ask anyone for anything. I don't want anything from him. All I am is a person wanting to know more about her birth father and where she came from. That all came crashing down when I found out that the person I gave my number to to give to him never actually gave him the number because he refused to take it. I was lied to for 3 months and told that he took it like I am some small child who's feelings are going to get hurt that he didn't really actually have my number. I went nearly 34 years of my life not knowing him and not even caring and my life has been one heck of a ride without him. I did not care as a child and I don't now. When I was around 1 years old another man came into my mom's life and he is now the man that I know as my father. He was there for my school Christmas concerts, band recitals, taught me how to ride a horse, when my first tooth fell out, taught me how to do math without a calculator, graduation, the birth of my daughter, and even walked me down the isle at my wedding. That is the man that I call my father. There are some good and bad things about him, but everyone has the good and bad things about them. He will always be my father for better or worse, no matter what.
By Lena Marie Chartrand5 years ago in Families
Bob's Your Uncle
“There’s a lot of talk and questions out there about Bit-$-Coin,” Joe said, and signaled for the usual glass of wine from the bar by raising one finger. It was Friday night. He loosened his necktie and unbuttoned the neck of his crisp white shirt.
By Kay Burnett5 years ago in Families
Hometown
I don’t quite have a hometown. I lived in the Houston suburbs until I was about 6. We lived near Galveston near my father’s family. I remember swimming in my Grandmother and Grandfather’s pool, playing all day with my siblings, with the sunlight reflecting off the water until our cheeks were sunburnt and our feet were raw from the concrete… trips to Nasa, and 4th of July celebrations and fireworks on Clear Lake… my grandparents’ giant anniversary and birthday parties where it seemed the whole town was there. I still wonder to this day how people could have so many friends. My grandmother was one of the greatest people I have ever known, and my grandfather still is.
By Lolita Libra5 years ago in Families
The Book Said "Simply Pick Me UP" That's All It Said.
First off I want to tell you I have (or had) very little belief in anything to do with the supernatural. Ghosts, destiny, fortunes, I'm hardly what someone would call a believer. One day that all changed when I found a little black book near a trashcan by a psychic reading stand on the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California. Looking back now however, I must say that some voice, something deep inside me did tell me to look down near that specific trash can and pick up that book, which said only that "Pick Me Up", a book that would have a significant impact on my immediate, upcoming life.
By Travis McDonald5 years ago in Families
Being a Dad... on purpose
The word "father" carries with it a multitude of emotions and weight for me. The father with whom I share a genetic link was an addict. He was absent most of the time. He died while I was in college. And yet, there is no denying my eternal connection to him. I am in many ways a spitting image of his likeness. And I think I share many of his more positive attributes that have been told to me by those who knew and loved him in ways I was never able to.
By Chris Ashley5 years ago in Families
