immediate family

Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.

Winter
In a small town of Culpeper in the year of 1980. Everyone enjoyed winter. Everyone but me, that it is. While children were building snowmen and having snowball fights, and teenagers and couples ice skated and went sledding. I would sit in my chair by the window with my cup of hot chocolate, while my dog Curley and my cat Jelly Bean rested on the rug in front of the fireplace.
By Jennifer Christine Clark6 years ago in Families
A view of my childhood from the kitchen window
I always hated it when my mom left home. I am, and always was, incredibly close to her and felt sad and nervous when she wasn’t around. Because of this, it was a big production for me every time she left me at home because I was, and am, a crybaby. At first I would stand by the back door, located in the kitchen, and wave as she backed her car out of the driveway. Then, I would act as though I were a race announcer and yell, “On your mark, get set, go cat go,” before she was allowed to drive away. It eventually evolved to include a hand routine with it where I wrote the words in the air with my finger. Seeing as I was a small child, you can imagine how long this took, and if she dared to move before I was done, we had to start over. Maybe I should have known then that I had OCD?
By Katherine Carnes Coleman6 years ago in Families
Time I Got Lost
It was a regular day where 13 year old me got up to get ready for school. I get all dress and go wake up my mother to take me to the bus stop, has she insisted every morning. She is pregnant with my little sister who is due in a week to join our family. Has my mom wake up she notices that her nightgown and bed is soaked with water. YES, her water broke but she didn’t know since she never been through this experience. She finds her phone and calls her doctor. I vividly remember hearing the doctor yell at my mother saying “call 911 right now”. The ambulance comes to take my mom and a family friend takes me to school. Faster forward to 3:20pm when I get home and my neighbor was supposed to get me from the bus stop. No one is there so I decided I’m going to my best friend house to call my mom. We’re walking to my best friends house at the time and see that my family car is parked in the driveway. I go knocked for a good ten minutes but no answer. We end to my best friend’s house and I immediately call the house phone multiple times has my parents did not have cell phones at the time. About four hours go by and there a knock on my bestfriend’s house. Her mother answers and it the cops. They ask if I was there and to speak with me. They ask if I am okay and what happened. So I explain that no one came and got me off the bus as well has the fact that I’ve been calling the house phone all day. The police officer said she be right back and come back with my uncle and dad. My dad is so excited to see me has they thought I was lost. From there view of everything, my neighbor was supposed to get my from the bus but the bus was late that day and she missed me. They had contacted the school, the bus driver was interviewed by the cops, my parents had an alert out for me, and best of all my mother was refuses to have my baby sister until I was found. In the end, I got to the hospital just in time to meet my new little sister and all was fine.
By Abby Ebissa6 years ago in Families
An Open Letter to My So-Called ‘Parents’
Dear So-Called “Parents”: It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve last seen the both of you. I don’t call you “mom” and “dad” anymore, because when I was younger and reached adulthood, you hardly had anything positive to say about me and use my siblings to turn against me whenever I did something wrong. I think that’s one of the most despicable things you could ever do towards your own child. On top of that, you tell your friends and others lies about me that weren’t true. You would constantly berate and talk down to me. Not only that, but completely lowered my self-confidence. My self-confidence is still low today, because if you had treated me with love and respect more, I wouldn’t be feeling like this right now. To me, y’all were bullying me. The both of you forced me out of my hometown and Texas in general: the place where I grew up for most of my life and y’all call yourselves parents? You took my friends away from me and I’ll never forgive you. I’ve had great friends and teachers who liked me.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 6 years ago in Families
A crowded mind
“How can things go back to the way they were when so much bad had happened?” It’s a saying from Samwise Gamgee that I think about a lot. Especially with how true it is. These past few months have been a true example of a mental and emotional torment. And a family torn apart cannot be mended so easily.
By Jessica Cortez6 years ago in Families
My Life In Song
Prologue They say that there is always at least one memory as a kid that you will never forget. I sit back at times and think, “What is something that you really remember from your childhood?” and for a while, I drew a blank. Then, one morning, I woke up from a dream in tears. I remembered.
By Luis Cruz6 years ago in Families
My Dad Bought Me A New Mom Online
One day I came home from school a little bit earlier than I usually did, and right at the doorstep, I ran into a man who I'd never seen before. I noticed that he was missing one button on his jacket. But what was really strange is that my mom, who apparently was seeing him off, seemed disheveled and was wearing a robe in the middle of the day. She got a little bit flustered when she saw me and started explaining that that man was a door-to-door salesman and that he came really unexpectedly, right when she was taking a bath, and that’s why she looked like that.
By Vetsko OM6 years ago in Families
Hey dad did you get my text?
My mother & step dad have been together since I was about 6 years old. He has basically been my father figure since my biological one was absent. I am now well into my early 30,s now and my step dad is still one of my biggest support systems. My step Dad is a strong but gentle man. He has the biggest heart and has no animosity in his heart towards no-one. A few years back my mother unfortunately passed away. We both took this very hard and was not sure how to heal from such a sudden lost. My Step Dad then decided to move down south. Leaving me to heal on my own. I could not be angry with him because I understand it was too much for him. I lost my mother & he lost his soul mate. He decided to move down south to be with his sister and family. I felt it was the right thing to do since he was feeling lonely and I had already fled the nest some years prior to my mother passing. I helped him move and went down to visit him for the first year several times. As time went on I noticed the constant daily conversations between me and him slowed down due to the distance. Everything slowed down till the point we spoke once every other month. On my dads part he was not happy. on my part I was in my mid 20’s living my best life and would talk to him when I felt like it. My dad was not having that anymore. It was not that I did not want to talk to him it’s just that certain parents when they loose their partner thier sadness can make you sad as well. I was already miserable because my Mother was my best friend, so to constantly go down memory lane and end up crying for hours as not how I wanted to spend my nights. After a few of those conversations I would try to avoid them on all accounts.
By Serafina6 years ago in Families
Clay Street
Before I write anything about my life, I often start off with a reality or a so-called flaw about myself. It's my way of working through my own patterns and behaviors and simply being as transparent as I can be as I navigate my relationships with other people.
By Xavia Johnson6 years ago in Families
She Paves
This beautiful lady in the photo above is Hodayah. She is a nurse, therapist, teacher, chef, driver, respected janitor, comedian, and my everything. However, professionally she is known to be my mother. These titles she attained through her loving and nurturing air that she boldly carries and exercises throughout all aspects of her life. Whether its dealing with her children, grandchildren, friends and friendly strangers, she is always kind and supportive.
By Human Being6 years ago in Families
Celebrating Herstory
Women didn’t divorce their husbands in 1930. Especially not without a job or way to support your children. But not my grandmother. She was not going to let her sons see her be beaten and abused or worse yet to grow up without a mother at all. So as difficult and dangerous as the decision may have been, she chose to live. Lilly Mae was a woman, an African American woman, and she was a single-mother in the South, during the Great Depression. The odds, were definitely not in her favor. But Lilly Mae, had come from a long line of strong women. Women of faith, educated, and resourceful women. Her mother was an educator. She was not the first woman in my blood line to defy the odds and certainly not the last. As I thought of the women that I felt deserved honor during Women’s History Month, I had to pay respect to my grandmother and mother. They have both taught me how not only to survive, but how to thrive, even in the midst of tremendous trials.
By Dr. Tonia The Communication Coach6 years ago in Families
My Husband, My Hero
The Past At first, it did not occur to me that he was abusive. He didn’t hit me. It wasn’t until after I left that I realised it was abuse. Every type of abuse except he didn’t hit me. He shouted, he lied, he stole, there was financial abuse and gaslighting (I didn’t know what that was until I read about it and realised that’s exactly what was going on). I wasn’t even sure he knew he was doing it. When he took money from me to spend on drink, I don’t know if it occurred to him that it was wrong or if he thought it was somehow acceptable.
By Sapphire Ravenclaw6 years ago in Families