grief
Losing a family member is one of the most traumatic life events; Families must support one another to endure the five stages of grief and get through it together.
My Father's House
I am standing in the house my father built. The rooms are cold, as they always were. The myth of California is that it’s always warm. Instead, the damp gets inside of you until your skin crawls. The heat was never turned on in my father’s house.
By Louis Chalif5 years ago in Families
I Said Goodbye To Her Alone
I said goodbye to her alone. The hospital pillows overtook her small frame like she was drowning in them. Her normally manicured perfect flume of violet hair now depressed and a faded shade of white. She was in a black box, pixelated and glitchy, and I left my hand up in a frozen wave as I closed it. I turned my head and stared at the poorly painted wall next to me, wondering if perhaps that’s the sort of thing she was also looking at. Maybe the hospital room had a window she could look out. It was unknown to me; I would never know the inside of that hospital room, or which nurse would call it when that time inevitably came. I tried to remember the color of the scrubs her nurse was wearing. I ignored the most devastating facts while unimportant questions plagued me. What color her last Jell-O might be. The design of the socks she would be wearing when it came time to take them off her. Maybe sheep. Or frogs. I got her a pair of long socks with frogs on them once when I was on vacation years ago. I shuddered to think of how I walked the streets and went to restaurants - even a concert, all without the protection and comfort of a blue mask.
By Meghan Simone5 years ago in Families
Healing the Wounds of Childhood
She has always been a pioneer for women. For as long as I can remember and long before that, she was setting standards within the teaching field. Women were teaching but men were running the show. That was until she started getting involved.
By Tina Goens5 years ago in Families
The Treasured Chest
She had forgotten how to be human. She had forgotten how to be around normal people. She watched them making small talk with each other in the hallways, and she felt alien. Everyone looked at her the same way, as if they were trying to figure out how she had ended up like that. She tried to smile; she thought she was, but the look on their faces proved her attempts were failures. She wondered when she had gotten this way. When did she forget how to be a person?
By Aleathea Dupree5 years ago in Families
"You and him"
It burns deeper on the inside now. That existential dread, the bottomless pit emptying my stomach, the rumbling chasm that echoes throughout the dead ribs of the quaint village church. I would scream but would my stomach think of it as an invitation to let out all the hurt. I hadn’t eaten in two days so all that would come up is bile, the choleric, fiery pain where the burning began.
By Jack Bailey5 years ago in Families
Hope, Inherited.
The luxurious blue bathrobe hung on its hook next to the shower. The tag the nursing home had placed on it to label it as her grandmother’s still stuck beneath the brand label, one Eliza didn’t recognize. She didn’t inherit much from Daphne Brown, as the name tag indicated, but her parents had offered her this robe when they moved her from her own room in the nursing home to one with a roommate. As she stepped out of the shower, dried, and hustled into the warmth of the robe, Eliza’s thoughts floated to her Gram, as they often did.
By Emily Browning5 years ago in Families
Dear Lana,
*** Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide of a loved one. *** Lana Booker-Yang was only five when she had perfected the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich recipe. Since her parents spent most of their days arguing over little things, Lana needed to learn to be independent. As bad as life was for Lana, things only seemed to get worse. With Lana's dad "missing" after promising his return, Lana's mom still stuck on Lee's passing, her life was a wreck.
By Anastasia Day5 years ago in Families
Feed Your Dreams
Dad always likes to tease me that I'm accident-prone. Now here I am, at 24, lying flat on my back on the sidewalk after taking one step out of my apartment complex. It hardly snows here in North Carolina, but it makes sense this would happen on the first day I’m starting my new job. On the bright side though, the snow is still pretty.
By Kayla Stevenson5 years ago in Families
Red Sonder
My grandfather, who I called Pops, leaned forward from his wooden chair as if to tell me something. The holes on his wool, hay like, sweater expanded as he crossed his arms and rested them on his knees. His tired eyes looked at me and he exclaimed “I always knew something big would come of you, didn’t think it would be as curious as this”. He chuckled and leaned back with a worked up look on his face. “well son’ he said, “you have a big decision to make here and whatever in hell you decide to do you make sure to tell yourself it’s the right thing”. I looked down at my knees spread wide by a black leather bag stacked tight with Ben Franklins. There it was, on top of all of it the little black notebook.
By Henry Rojas5 years ago in Families
January 8, 2018
January 8, 2018 at nearly 8am on an ordinary Thursday morning she slipped away. As Monique sat motionless in the dark room, she could feel the warm wet tears running down her face onto her lips, she tasted the salt and sorrow of the liquid. She could hear the faint sobs of her father and siblings in the background. But all she could think was now what?
By Kelli Sheckler-Amsden5 years ago in Families
