immediate family

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My Dad Has Dementia - Journal Entry #3
For as long as I can remember, my dad has had a sense of humor. Quick witted is an understatement. He’s five steps ahead of everyone where jokes are concerned and sometimes it’s as if he planned entire conversations to set up the punchline a few hours down the road. Amazing. And amazingly funny!
By Lisa Akemi5 years ago in Families
Introduction
Well, let's start with an introduction. I am a mother with 5 children on the autism spectrum. My oldest is Alec, he is 29 years old. Alec is married to a wonderful man named Kent. My second child is Timmy, he is 27 years old. My little girl, Karen (aka Shuff) is right in the middle at 24 years old. My fourth child has requested I use an Alias for him so he will be Bob. He has just turned 18 years old. The youngest is Jeremy at almost 12 years old. I am in my third marriage. This husband is Mikey. He is an amazing father and husband.
By Mary Ann LaCombe5 years ago in Families
My Dad Has Dementia
I taped down the charger cord under a note that said “Dad – Take your phone but leave the wire. Thanks!” and we’ll see it if works! Four days ago I did the same thing and thought I was a genius because the charger stayed in place! Hallelujah! I cannot tell you how many of them we’ve gone through in the last few years.
By Lisa Akemi5 years ago in Families
Fell in Love with a Pearl
The year of 2020 has been pretty rough on my little family like many other families in US. My husband and I are both very driven in our professions but have always limited that drive to make sure our 6 children always have ample attention from us individually and as a family. Unfortunately, as I am a business owner of a small marketing firm, I have found myself having to put in a ton more hours working for a fraction of my usual hour rates which has put a dent in my family time. For the last couple months I have really made an effort to think of crafts, art projects, and kid friendly cooking methods to maximize what little time I have to give right now.
By Crystal Turner5 years ago in Families
introduction
1989 Miami, Florida I was born on the coldest day of the year, considering Florida is known for it's warm, sunny, with random daily sun-showers. But not that day.
By Aryen Bo Baryen5 years ago in Families
Holiday Magic is Actually Mom's Magic
If there are any people in the world who celebrate Christmas excessively, Filipinos quickly come to mind. After all, the Christmas season in the Philippines starts on September 1st and lasts until January 9th! Christmas songs can be heard from every street corner, at the mall, and on every radio station. Decorations go up in every household and commercial space. Everyone goes shopping at full throttle. Bibingka (a type of rice cake) and puto bumbong (a type of rice cake cooked in a bamboo tube) are sold from street stalls, which permeate the air with the scent of burning coconut husks and coal. Colorful parols (Christmas lanterns) line the streets and houses. Lights come alive in the metro. Debate aside, we Filipinos know how to celebrate the holiday season.
By Natalia Roxas5 years ago in Families
The Time I Found the Letters
The too long Holiday visit was over now and I was home. My home. Hours away from the placed I’d grown up. The place I always called home. I’d gone home because it was time. Past time, really. I needed to see all of them. The people who haunted my dreams and made me cry at random times during the day. The reasons for the darkness in the afternoons that stayed with me into the evenings.
By A.5 years ago in Families
My Story, Without Regrets
It all began on a cold wintry January morning, almost 73 years ago, when I came into this world, the second of what was to be three sons, to a Chinese father and a Colombian mother, in Washington, DC. They had met while mom was working as the nanny to the Colombian Ambassador to the U.S. and his wife who had three children and dad who went to visit his friend, also from China who also worked at that embassy, as a butler. Dad saw mom and was immediately struck by her beauty and shy demeanor and it was akin to the scene in the original “Godfather” movie when Michael first saw Apolonia, who would become his wife, my dad, like Michael, had been struck by the proverbial “lightning bolt”, a relationship, after they were married which would span some six decades.
By Robert Woo5 years ago in Families
Season of Believing
This year might be a little tougher to dig on down to our celebratory feels when it comes to Christmas. 2020 has been no easy year for any single one of us. We have let holidays and birthdays pass without seeing the ones we love in effort to keep them and ourselves healthy and safe. We have walked around with our faces covered and our identities masked themselves. We have had fear in our hearts for our neighbors, friends and families and not only because of Covid-19 but for equality reasons and more. This year has been a trial. So this Christmas should be a celebration that we who are here can embrace the magic of the holiday however we celebrate it. Normally we would be gathering with our family for a huge family party which now will be done through a zoom session. We will however still make our ham dinner on Christmas eve and put out the milk and cookies for the big guy to grace our boys beautiful mind, which is what this story will be about. He was asked today to write about Santa and the North Pole and what he imagines it to be. Through everything life has thrown, he still believes in the magic of wonder, something we should all dig on down and find again. So here it is, magic through imagination. Enjoy.
By Ashley Mattei5 years ago in Families
My Dad Has Dementia
Today my lil sister had a baby! A little baby girl. 💕 Awwww. Such sweetness. The other 3 of us girls all had boys the first time around so she's the first to have a girlie first child.
By Lisa Akemi5 years ago in Families
Trials of Being an Aunt
I don’t think that people understand all of the issues with being an Aunt. My first time being an aunt I was fourteen. My sister had a son at seventeen and left for the military when he was 6 months old. From the time she left to seeing her the day of her graduation I helped my mother and my other sister take care of her baby. It wasn’t hard to do, it was just his reaction to seeing his mother after her being gone for 6 to 9 months. As any mother should, my sister was happy to see her son, but what she wasn’t prepared for was him being terrified of her. The look of pain on her face as he screamed at her when she tried to grab him, the pure resentment she felt for me when he cried “mama,” while looking at me. I have always showed pictures of her and tried to make sure he knew that I was not his mom. Nevertheless, he was attached and admittedly so was I. The relationship between me and my sister was never pristine, but after that moment our relationship has never been the same.
By Mae Elle 5 years ago in Families
A Different Kind Of Christmas
The last time I saw my brother was when I was on Christmas break. I had gotten the opportunity to travel and go see him. It was somewhat of a miracle in and of itself because it was a last-minute decision. Most of the students at the dorm had already made plans and were also traveling to go spend time with family for their Christmas break. As I looked at my passport, there was a sense of nostalgia and irony that came over me. Just about a year ago, it was him who had traveled home from college for the holidays.
By Akpene5 years ago in Families