Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Families.

Great Aunt Rose.
When I first found it, I knew as soon as I placed my hand on it that this was going to be something. The something it was I couldn’t possibly comprehend.
By Lulu Joy5 years ago in Families
The Little Black Gift
Today has been the most difficult day of my life. I sit here with swollen wet eyes, weighted mind, stricken with grief so bleak my heart beats up through to my ears. I say goodbye to my dear sweet grand-mama Pearl. I rest my hand upon her body and I whisper my love. I close my eyes and think of her. She was warm, comforting, the blood line of my lineage, the artery that pumped life into our family. Every Sunday without fail, our bellies, our stuffed gloated egos, and the be-it-all to never miss me souls would feast on her labored felt nourishment. Her song was her food, that she so lovingly and graciously prepared for her family. She offered in full force without resistance, refusing help from all the younger women. Those women in the family that really just wanted a mere glimpse of her culinary sorcery. Every delicately, perfectly, beautifully crafted home dish that enveloped her passion and exemplified her roots. She cooked with heart, with love so deep you could taste it with every home soaked golden buttery bite.
By Laticia Blaine Hequembourg5 years ago in Families
From the Grave
This was my third Goodwill store. Even now, in mid-January, it wasn’t that cold in San Jose, but finding a cold-weather jacket for wear in near-freezing temperatures was proving harder than I anticipated. And I was running out of time.
By Jack St. Clair5 years ago in Families
Choosing a Child Care
Selecting a child care centre is a difficult task that a lot of parents and carers end up facing at one stage or another. The decision to leave your child with complete strangers, qualified or not, is not one that a lot of parents take lightly. Unless of course you are like me, and are desperate for a day of sanity and peace with little concern given that these carer's are often very qualified. However, I was blessed with the good fortune of an easy going personality and previous experience working in child care - so I didn't have as much anxiety as a lot of parents would. Having been on both sides of the fence - both a parent and an educator - I think I have a solid foundation on being able to provide advice on selecting a child care centre.
By Emily Fernan5 years ago in Families
The X is where I am from
As a child my family moved around a lot, you see my family was homeless for about three years living in a city shelter. Due to the irresponsibility of my mother who didn’t comply with the rules and regulations of the program that was paying the family's rent at the time. Then we had the fact that she always had something going on that we had to move every year. We lived all over the New York States and New York City. From the age of 4 till about 10 we moved because of my mother then after that, we moved because her so-called husband was a registered sex offender nobody wanted in their neighborhood. The school was so hard always being the new kid, so we never made any friends.
By Raven5 years ago in Families
ASD Snapshot: Can I Go?
In Transition We are still learning to drive. Months after passing the Ontario written test (six swings at the bat), we move to British Columbia: another province, another test. No biggie, I tell myself. Erik can write the BC learner's test during the last week of August, the week before college orientation begins.
By Teresa Hedley5 years ago in Families
The Little Black Book Of Blessings
He squinted his eyes in an attempt to figure out what the black object in front of him was. When the frantic looking man went tearing down the sidewalk, crashed into Mark, and kept running, something fell out of his pocket. If Mark’s glasses hadn’t been knocked clear off his face he’d already have been able to identify the object in front of him. As it is, he was fumbling around feeling for them and hoping they weren’t broken.
By Julie Wein5 years ago in Families
Francesca Foote
When I awake in the morning, sometime around 5 a.m., I rub my feet before leaving bed. They hasten even slower than I do these days, so I must soothe them, like newborn puppies, before I slip them into my house shoes. I massage each toe, curled with arthritis. They aren’t what they used to be, but I still keep up with them. My niece and I get pedicures every other Saturday.
By Amanda Woodard5 years ago in Families
Mary
Everyone leaves us with something. Sometimes they bequeath us a house, or family photos. Perhaps we are given a watch, or willed a piece of heirloom jewelry. The most valuable gems are usually the memories. Those priceless tidbits that can't be held in the hands, but only in the heart. They are the pieces of our life, the chapters of our story. They are both happy and sad, full of fear, and love. If we meant something to someone during their lifetime, after they pass from this world they want us to have something of them. It might be because they loved us, it may be out of a feeling of obligation, or maybe, they just don't want to be forgotten.
By Elizabeth Livecchi5 years ago in Families
Mom’s Last Page
She sat across from me in that room and we waited. We both knew each other better than to fill the silence with conversation. I felt slightly nauseous at what news would soon be delivered by, I assume, a well-bred doctor that gave this news to many families over the years. I was right. His kind eyes and straightforwardness were appreciated and seemed well practiced, which saddened me even further. My mom sat stoic and absorbed the words I knew she was expecting. After he left, we both looked at each other and understood there would be nothing more done here. No rounds of this or transfusions of that. She was done. She had been done years ago when my father passed. She had told me this numerous times since she we moved in together some 3 years back. What prompted all of this, was that my mom had begun to turn a kind of yellow color a few months back. She was becoming more and more tired, putting her head on the table after dinner to be woken up by me encouraging her to get to bed a half an hour later. She had MS since I was in 8th grade, making her around 40 then. She was 76 when she passed, it had nothing to do with her MS. Within a week of turning a sickly yellow, she was scanned and a biopsy concluded she had bile duct cancer. Who knew that was really a thing? I knew about pancreatic cancer and how that had a terrible end so I imagined this would be very similar. It was.
By Molly Pastori 5 years ago in Families
The Wish-Granter
The wish-granter has a thankless job. It wouldn't seem so, not at first; people wish for things they truly want, or things they at least think they truly want. It would make sense, then, that someone who gets something they want badly enough to wish for it—to beg a nameless, faceless entity in the sky for this one thing—that they'd be falling over themselves to give thanks when they suddenly found themselves with that thing.
By Kari Woodrow5 years ago in Families
WinningIsLosing
My ledger, which happens to be a little black book, is dedicated to keeping track of money given to foster children. These kids are my kids and I need to find a way to help them through life, as any good parent would. It's not easy since there are so many of them, 300,000-500,000 a year, I've narrowed it down to the 40,000-60,000 that age out of the system being the ones at the most risk. These kids are the ones that don't get adopted, for whatever reason, and at eighteen are kicked out of the system. They may or may not have the support they need after leaving their last foster home and that's where I come in. Sometimes these kids don't even have ID and have no idea how to go about getting one. This too I can help them with.
By Vonia Martin5 years ago in Families