Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
Grandma's Wedding - review (Netflix)
Brief synopsis: When the grandmother of a large family tells her family that she is getting married to the gardener, they support her decision despite some reservations and various internal familial squabbles. A year later, the grandmother’s family is preparing to meet her fiancé’s family.
By Q-ell Betton6 years ago in Families
Never Really Goodbye
To be quite frank, time is a bit of a strange concept when it comes to losing a loved one. Especially when they meant the universe to you & to so many others out there in the world. Time becomes irrelevant, days turn into months and so on. What I find most relevant in this circumstance are a few things, gratitude being one of them. Then there is the need to be present in this moment. If there was anything my Mum tried to teach me repeatedly was to be present in this moment, because this moment is all we are ever going to have.
By David Pascoe6 years ago in Families
Surviving Childhood Trauma
As a survivor of extreme sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a child, I allowed what was happening to me to affect me as a teenager and then as an adult. I developed low self-esteem, anger issues and anorexia that almost killed me. I had no one advocate for me after I told my mother what was happening at the hands of her own brother. Her response was I must have been a child abuser in a previous life and I was getting my karma paid back to me for doing that. She did NOTHING to her brother. She actually embraced him. She forced me to endure family get-together's with her brother, I was not allowed to have a voice or an opinion or a childhood. He was sexually abusing my sister and my cousin too but I received the worst from him because I was the fighter. I would kick him and punch him when he touched me. He threatened to kill me several times if I told. He even went so far as to put dead animals in my lunch box to "show me" what he would do to me if I told. He would chase me with running chainsaws like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre character. To this day, hearing a chainsaw gives me anxiety. I finally got away from the sexual abuse when one of the twelve husbands my mother had was transferred out of the country for a government job when I was 13 years old. I had endured torturous abuse from the age of 4 to 13. I could not get over what happened to me and I could not forgive my mother for allowing it to go on as long as it did and doing nothing and not protecting me.
By Tamara Echols6 years ago in Families
You’re No Psychic, Pop
Onions sizzle and provolone cheese bubbles atop red strips of beef and gray tiny slabs of chicken. Like a surgeon performing work on a patient, a young lady flips over the contents of the grill with precision and ease. The scent of a cheesesteak and a chicken cheesesteak waft through the store. It is replete with a panoply of colorful chips, cookies, potato salad, macaroni salad, and potato salad. This is Casapulla’s in Newark, make that Glasgow, Delaware.
By Skyler Saunders6 years ago in Families
I Am Penelope
Carrying each strand of thread from one end of the table to the other, I begin warping the loom, wrapping each loop onto the wooden peg. My studio, quiet today, feels less bright somehow—colors of various yarns muted and joyless. Maybe the overcast sky is to blame.
By Emily Wallace 6 years ago in Families
Manic mum days
Everyday mum LIFE !!!! My we’re to start lol !!!! Let’s start the day with “what the hell is going on with my brain” .... iv woke up thinking today is going to be good, I’m gonna be on the ball 🤣😫 it’s a shame what you are thinking does not really happen .... iv got up then woke the kids up got the clothes and breakfast sorted ... yes I’m on a roll at this point, I look at the clock and to me it looked like it said 8.45 yes( 8.45 ) so iv thought SHIT !!! My son is gonna be 20 minutes late for school if I don’t leave now... so rushed got everyone in the car and rushed ( in a responsible way ) to school told my son to jump out and go straight to class !! At this point I’m thinking YES you got this at all ok he is on time and your fine to go back home and chill for a bit !
By Kirsty Simpson6 years ago in Families
Life as we know it
For many years I have struggled with the concept of "Live within your means" as so many of us struggle financially for whatever reason that is mostly out of our control. Some might say that we put ourselves in our current position however what people don't always think about when you moan about your financial situation is that, yes we did choose this path in life but the overall result will be remembering the days when things were so tough that you weren't sure where your children's next meal was coming from and the soul destroying decisions you had to make, but from the comfort of your nice home that is now a safe haven for you and your family because you made that sacrifice at that stage in your life in order to better it. I often think that one day I will be in that safe haven, but right now I am in my "life bubble", struggling to make ends meet on one income (much thanks to my supportive hard working hubby) which is not that big for supporting a family of five, whilst I put myself through more education at nearly age 40 to better my career prospects and chance of a bigger salary that comes with it, making that safe haven a realistic goal and not an impossible dream. We are currently looking at remortgaging to consilodate all the debts that have racked up whilst being a student and full time Mum, but trying to live the life that I wanted for my family, including the memory making holidays that are so important to my family's mental health. These holiday's of course are important, but little did I realise the long-term impact on our mental health which made the short-term benefits fly out of significance! The arguments caused by poor, financial, spur of the moment decisions, the necessity of saying NO to your children's demands that once were met with a Yes!!! all contribute to a very unhappy household who were already on the brink of collapse when my younger sister died of bowel cancer just before the start (and was partly the reason why) of my life plan upheavals. For most of my working life I have given my soul to the NHS as a bottom grade staff nurse and felt little desire to go up the ranks as family of two turned into family of five over the last 12 years and brought much joy to our lives. Losing my sister at the young age of 33 put a lot of things in my little life bubble into perspective and I made the grand decision to quit nursing and follow my mother's career choice by training to become a maths teacher! Don't ask! But here I am three and a half years later, one assignment away from finishing my degree and in the worst place mentally that I think I have been ever! Making big decisions, big financial choices, making that safe haven seem like an impossible dream again. But remembering what one of the last things my sister said to me before she died, which was, "Don't be sad for me! Live your life happily no matter what is thrown to test you, as long as you are surrounded by those who love you and make you feel safe then you will achieve happiness" (Nicky Vanstone, 2016) and so here I am, getting me "Happy" and only then can I make that impossible dream an achievable reality again, one day....
By Beckie Dayman6 years ago in Families
“Mr. Jones & Me”
My name is Adrianna Rose O’Daniel and I am a medium. I was born in 1988 and have felt energies around me all my life. It was not until my younger brother Nick’s suicide in 2014, that I realized what I was experiencing, and ALSO confirmed I was not secretly insane. Nick was 24 when he shot himself, at an age I believe one can feel the most pressure as well as lost. Looking back 6 years ago, I was definitely lost, and way too busy managing a restaurant. Because of Nick’s suicide, I could finally make sense of my synchronicities, my gifts and then learn how to use them to help myself and others. Fortunately my brother loved music and festivals, so a lot of my brother’s messages come from songs, and one song in particular reminds me he is always energetically supporting me. That song is called “Mr. Jones”, by the Counting Crows.
By earth angel rose tarot 11116 years ago in Families
