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Most recently published stories in Families.

Start living to live
Most of us live our life like we are immortal, until something happens that shows us differently that is. The reality is none of us are immortal and we all are born to die. We all hope it’s when we are really really old and we just peacefully after a long great life lay down and don’t wake up. No pain, no worry , no nothing, just maybe the best possible way to leave this earth for everyone involved. I take comfort in hearing the stories where they begin with ” Mary was 100 years old, lived a long heathy happy life and had just went to sleep and never woke up”. I am sad because someone has died but my brain rationalizes that Mary wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, she was happy, she was at peace and she was ready to go. What I can’t handle is the sudden deaths, the unnecessary deaths..the car crashes, the heart attacks, the drop dead while eating lunch on your lunch break, the you have cancer and have 6 months to live deaths. I can’t , no matter how hard I try , no matter how old the person is I just can’t accept it. The person was there one minute talking to me or someone else and the next moment they are just gone. They cease to exist. I have been sheltered by death I think, I have not been to many funerals. And the one or two I have attended I sit there in complete shock that this person is just gone. And that now this person is just a picture, just a memory. That you can’t even breath cause it hurts too much knowing they aren’t breathing too, the moment of their death just replays over and over in your head like a broken record. You didn’t even have to be there to play the moment they took their last breath over and over. Your brain has filled all the missing moments in for you, exactly how it happened or not it’s the moment they died forever etched in your mind. I once knew a lady who was killed in an accident that ended up with her little car ramming right under a semi. I won’t get graphic with what exactly that scenario would do to a body but I am sure you can figure it out. I was not there , I only know the story of what happened and my brain has filled in the rest and it’s all I can think about when I remember this person, I can vividly see it all. It’s sad, this is many years later it’s still sad. It haunts you to the core and there is no getting over the mental image your head has drawn for you. Or my friend who will forever remain in my head as comfortably sitting at a table eating lunch, talking, laughing and then bam dead. I was not there but I vividly remember that entire moment when her life just stopped existing too. The moment when two young teenage girls lost their mom forever. I felt the loss everytime I walked past that restaurant or the store she worked at and still do after all these years when I hear of someone dying the same way.
By Crazieone5 years ago in Families
If only we could go back...
I wish I could go back in time, just 17 years would be good. I would change so much. I would take all the pictures I could with my kids even if I felt fat or ugly and was ashamed of having the picture as proof for years to come. I would never let my kids know how I actually felt about seeing myself in pictures. I would want to do this so I could show my kids that it’s ok to get your picture taken, that it’s moments in life you will never get back. Perhaps if I wasn’t so openly ashamed of my picture taken they wouldn’t be now. Maybe they would have a higher sense of self worth if they didn’t see their mom with none.
By Crazieone5 years ago in Families
Covid 19 Lockdown Means Children Need To Be Home Schooled Around The Country
Following UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to place England in a third lockdown, working parents are under increasing pressure on how to find ways to educate and occupy their children. There have been an increasing number of cases of a new variant of Coronavirus recently occurring in the UK and this is starting to put the health service under increasing pressure.
By Ashish Prabhu5 years ago in Families
The Nana Adventures
Now that Christmas is over, all new toys are now old toys.. It's time for new adventures at our house. We have New Years Eve coming up, will we shoot fireworks or have a bonfire.. Maybe both..
By Tabatha Nabors5 years ago in Families
Obsessed with Cookie Dough
Do you ever smell something and it immediately takes you back in time? It happens to me every time I smell vanilla, any type of vanilla, scentsy burner with vanilla scent, perfume with a hint of vanilla or baking and adding vanilla into the ingredients. All of a sudden it’s like I am 11 again. That was the age I was when my sister and I first tried to make my moms chocolate chip dough cause we loved it so much. We wasted so much ingredients that summer trying to make that dough that our parents thought we were eating it, eating bags and bags of brown sugar, chocolate chips and vanilla. Ok now, we were unsupervised kids but we weren’t animals we weren’t scarfing down brown sugar by the spoonful. In fact if my parents ever went onto the deck attached to their room they would have found all the missing ingredients in a bucket full of dishes , dishes we bought at the thrift store so we didn’t have to do extra dishes because of our new baking hobby. We may have been kids but we were smart, we can try to make the dough and throw all the garbage and dishes from our failed attempts into the bucket we kept on my mom and dads deck. Looking back I don’t know if we were just dumb or if we were smart to put it out on their deck , they never did find it so I suppose we fall into the smart catagory. We even moved out of that house and cleaned everything except for that deck that held our secret failed cookie dough attempts.
By Crazieone5 years ago in Families
Tips to help the transition of moving in with a family member or loved ones...
We all know how hard things have been for everyone during the pandemic. Unemployment is at a record high. Many families have had to resort to moving in with other family members or close friends to help each other make ends meet. The thought of having to swallow your pride and ask for help is tough. This will take the manliest of men to their knees. This is not easy for most women either; however, when push comes to shove one must look at the bigger picture. They must do what is best for all involved.
By Beverlee Puckett5 years ago in Families
Texting My Deceased Brother
In July of 2017, my brother Eddie went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Before the fire broke out of the walls and engulfed his home, smoke inhalation kept him unconscious.
By Phil Rossi5 years ago in Families
The King Who Wouldn't Castle
The King Who Wouldn’t Castle Once upon a time there was a little girl named Joey. One day Little Joey was very excited because her Uncle Chester was coming to visit. She was Little Joey’s favorite uncle because Chester first started calling her little Joey, and taught Little Joey how to play her favorite game. Chess! Every visit Little Joey tried as hard as she could, but never beat her uncle at the game. Afterwards, Little Joey would ask questions and learn something new. Little Joey heard the doorbell, and ran to the door to greet her uncle.
By Emmanuel Pace "Uncle Stinkee"5 years ago in Families
Show them the way
Never let family fall behind. If you see pieces that are being dropped offer assistance when possible and never let them stay down for to long. Your family is depending on your guidance and assurance. Do not let a day go by without letting them know you are there for them.
By Cody Sumner5 years ago in Families
The day my entire world shook
It was 8:05pm on January 6 2020. I was sitting in our sofa, watching TV while my husband was trying to cook some eggnog for the very first time. We lived in Ponce, one of the biggest cities in the south of Puerto Rico, a small island in the Caribbean. We were living there because I started my doctoral studies in clinical psychology, in that city. I look at our Christmas tree moving slowly, swaying from side to side, in a passive way. "It is shaking..." I tell my husband. It wasn't the first time, but this time, something was different. "Don't worry sweetie, everything will be okay" he replied. I got a bit anxious and decided to text my mom, and tell her about it. I told her I did not want to stay in the house, and that I wanted to go stay with her. It was kind of late in the night to drive for half an hour, so I stayed.
By Deborah Santoni5 years ago in Families
Who Cut the Cheese!?!
Once upon a time at an animal circus there was a curious baby skunk. After finishing her lunch the curious baby skunk wanted to find an answer to a question on her mind.
By Emmanuel Pace "Uncle Stinkee"5 years ago in Families
Helping a Child Adjust to Moving
Let me put this out there, I firmly believe that moving to a new house, and subsequently a new school, is good for kids. They learn that the world doesn’t end when they don’t see the same people every day. It teaches them to maintain relationships from a distance through phone calls and Instagram, and it helps prepare them for when they do actually move out on their own. There are a lot of good things that come out of it; however, that doesn’t make it any easier on kids.
By Alison MacMillan5 years ago in Families