Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
The Last Hunting Trip I Took with my Grandpa.
Without sounding too cliché, I think that life is simply a compilation of experiences and, in turn, the quality of one’s life is determined by their interpretation of those experiences. So much of our daily lives can be affected by our perspective on the things we encounter and the problems we face. How we chose to deal with certain situations is what molds us into the characters we are.
By Sam Lavigne5 years ago in Families
Life Without My Son
I never imagined being pregnant with my first child would end like this. The feeling of your presence was well known even though I was in denial I knew the possibility of you. Found out I was pregnant with my baby boy when I was four months carried him for 8 months. His passing was so tragic to not know what was the real reason behind his death. I held my baby for a whole day after birth which I knew his spirits was with me when his little eyes and mouth open. No he didn’t make a sound but I felt him take his last breath. It’s been almost 3 years since his passing and it still feels like yesterday when I lost him. Trying to cope with it has been hard because nobody around me understand the hurt of losing a child that you was carrying, getting ready for and for it to all go away within a blink of an eye hurts. Everyday I try to make up an excuse on what could be the reason behind it all but I don’t have not one answer which hurts the most. I wasn’t fully ready to be someone mother but I knew the possibility of how a baby comes without protection but to know my son had peace and love around him brought me a little happiness. I got him cremated and everywhere I go I carry him around because I know his spirit be in my presence I could be tripping or it could be just a feeling. I know and met a lot of women who experience the same thing or similar things as me who I’ve talked to. Hearing multiple women stories and sharing mines helped me cope within myself as well. Losing a child whether u 5 weeks , 5 months or the baby 5 years old a lost is a lost. Depression still kicks in everyday but losing my mother have also taught me how to cope with a loss. Everyday it still hold a hole in my heart feels like my chest caving in like I’m losing my breath when it hit reality that I really lost my son. Knowing my baby could’ve been saved but they didn’t hurts more than anything. Felt like I didn’t fight harder enough to save him. Blame myself for a whole year for his death. Didn’t have nobody to talk to. Feeling suicidal. Wanna give everything up. I get it but I’m here to tell anyone who lost a child that you never alone someone always there to listen and understand the pain you feeling. Every year I celebrate his death date & his birthday which is a day apart crazy right but I just learn how to accept him being gone, live his name, hold his urn every night and pray with him. Some might still call it denial but I call it my way of healing. I’m only 21 years old how I pictured my pregnancy and how it happened two different directions I wasn’t expecting but overall I’m happy he chose me as his mother, gave me a chance to experience something I always wanted. A Family. I never grew up with a lot of love so I knew when I have my child I’ll have that love I was missing. I cherish our little moments in my heart forever that little piece is what helps me get through it everyday. This is just a beginning of my beautiful story. I love writing so expect a lot of stories from me I would love sharing. Writing is like a peace of mind to me hopefully my stories can help one of you.
By Sanquisha Paden5 years ago in Families
Guilty
The night is over, the sun isn’t awake yet. But you are. You in your over-worn pajamas that somehow bring comfort though the threadbare material holds little warmth to your stretched out over-worn body. You can feel the cold bite of the winter morning both in your toes as you touch the wooden floor boards and in your bones as they creak from overuse. You step into your over-used slippers and shuffle silently into the other room. Careful to remain silent as you pour a cup of yesterday’s coffee and warm it in the microwave. You read the ramblings online of other fellow “night owls” just as the sun begins its crawl upward from the horizon. The sky is a murky lavender that scratches at your inner demons. The house is still silent as you sit clothed in darkness. As the sun pushes away the night’s leftover darkness you file your insecurities away alphabetically: Analytical asshole, Bitch, Cynical, Depressed, Enough? You file and file, tuck and tuck, push and push. Until the dusty library in the corner of your worn-out soul looks as tidy as you try to feel. The librarian is a black silhouette against the scarred walls, he chuckles and holds out a forgotten file. Guilt. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. A hard swallow as you take your day’s assignment and tuck it under a battered arm.
By Elizabeth Kerr5 years ago in Families
Three activities for kids while working from home
This school year has been one that looks like no other we have ever witnessed. In these weird times trying to work from home with kids running around—having a few activities for them in your back pocket is a necessity. That way when they come in for the 13,045th time to tell you that they are bored you have something to *hopefully* give you a few minutes of uninterrupted work time! How can this be done without sorcery!?!?! Allow me to share with you my magic—I mean activities!
By Birdie Smith 5 years ago in Families
Following My Father
We moved from the Oakland Hills to St. Helena in the Napa Valley shortly before the end of the school year in first grade. Dad's decision to move us at that time led to a crisis between my oldest sister. About to graduate high school from Oakland Tech, a school Winnie loved and felt proud to attend, she felt betrayed and refused to go. She arranged to stay with a friend for those last weeks of school.
By Caroni Lombard5 years ago in Families
Adopted & Reunited
Call me Steve Snow. Being adopted at birth, I grew up never knowing my biological family. My name consisted of a first and middle name followed by a number to obscure my identity as part of the process to effectively make me nameless and impossible to trace due to laws of redaction of birth records at the time, if you could find any meaningful leads at all.
By Steve Horgan5 years ago in Families
Diary of a Single Mom
It's hard to find "the one". You think you found him (or her) until you realize they just played a really good game. I guess it was partially my fault. I rushed into a new relationship after the last one failed. And when I say failed, I mean royally F'd up. So when this cute guy came into my life spouting all the right things, of course I had to. Right? It's a classic "if I had known then what I know now" situation. However, I like to remind myself, if I had never fallen for his facade I would never have met my true loves.
By Crystal Traver5 years ago in Families
Welcoming a Baby into the World
I was thirty-three weeks pregnant, when I went to my regular doctors appointment. I was told that I had to go to Labor and Delivery at the local hospital. My blood pressure was extremely high, that I had time to pick up my husband then be there sooner rather than later. We went to the hospital, knowing that I was staying overnight for observation. The nurses was really worried about my blood pressure it was not coming down at all. The on-call doctor came and told us that he is admitting me, that I am not leaving the hospital until I become a new mother. Let me explain something, at thirty-three weeks that was scary the baby’s lungs not fully developed yet, it’s the last thing to be develop. They did diagnose me as having preeclampsia.
By Samantha Straith5 years ago in Families
Skeltons
Still a little jet lagged from the plane ride, I wake up a tad groggy and irritable. I've gotten used to not sleeping well as my career choice as a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI), in Fresno county has me working at all hours. However, a full two weeks off is a dream come true. No phone calls in the middle of the night for crime scenes that are sometimes horrendous. Hopefully this visit won't end in disaster. Enough day-dreaming time to rouse her mom, Marie and Aunt Doris. First, I will check on my grandmother.
By ScarpettaBlaze5 years ago in Families
Skeletons
Samantha woke with little to no energy; the funeral had been both physically and emotionally draining. She had finally wiped her tear-stained face around three in the morning and fallen asleep in a fitful dream of misery. Pictures of Grandma happy and at peace mixed with angry, sad faces of family did not bode well for a peaceful night's rest.
By ScarpettaBlaze5 years ago in Families
