immediate family
Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.
I Can’t Bare to Look
The McKenzie River flowed to the North of my childhood home. Past several farmer’s fields and a narrow strip of trees and brush that each year would ebb and flow as the river carved out its path from the cascades range East of Eugene Oregon to the southernmost end of the Willamette Valley.
By Joseph Shidek7 years ago in Families
A Note as I Fly…
The 18th day of May, 2016. It’s a pleasant morning… I watched the sun rise through the window of the aircraft, alone. I’ve learnt one thing… not learnt, rediscovered… The only one that cares about you the most is your mother, be it biological or otherwise. (Obvious?) The one that knows what you want materialistically is... You! No one else. So instead of hoping for something that you want, ask or work for it… This is just the materialistic part that I’m talking about… The other wants will take a whole new dimension if I talk about it.
By Prasita Nadar7 years ago in Families
The Struggle
Red, that is the color she saw the moment Lilly heard her mother utter the words, “You have a week to get your stuff out of the house.” She was livid that, after the years of mental abuse she suffered for that woman’s enjoyment and her sister’s benefit, she was being thrown out of her own home. All because her mother decided to start an affair with a married man and then when that fell apart, move several states away after stopping paying all bills.
By Mary Benson7 years ago in Families
Toxic
Imagine this. Your significant other starts manipulating you early in your relationship. You don’t recognize it right away because you trust this person. They haven’t done anything to you that you recognize as harmful. You just notice that once in a while, they make you feel guilty for hanging out with your friends instead of them. Then, things get more intense. They start lying to you, and when you finally get the courage to confront them, they turn it around on you, making you question yourself. Making you not trust your own instincts. They start calling you all the time and getting upset when you can’t answer right away no matter if you’re working, if your phone is dead, or if you’re doing something important for yourself. Your feelings don’t matter. You don’t matter. You’re there as a tool for your significant other to use to help feed their own ego.
By Paige Jones7 years ago in Families
Family or Family?
I was stumped, pondering the choice that I was given. They needed the answer within two weeks whether I was ready or not. I needed to think about the pros and cons as it will affect my life for either the next four months or for the rest of my life. It’s not something that I could just immediately answer.
By Ariana Edington7 years ago in Families
The Story of a Twenty-One Year Old Girl
You must be thinking, "Oh god, here we go again with a life story." Ah, sure it may be another life story but you may learn something from this story. That or you might think you just wasted your time reading this. Who knows? If you do decide to stick around, let's get to it.
By Emily Cothran7 years ago in Families
Life
When I was really little my Mom left me with my Grandma and Grandpa so much I thought my Grandma was my Mom. I called her Mom and she would correct me, "No I'm not your Mom, I'm your Grandma." And once I was old enough to play by myself my Mom would always leave me by myself and she hardly ever interacted with me. Some people have fond memories of their Moms playing with them, or making lunch and eating together, or anything like that. I have memories of my Mom getting upset because I didn't get the bathroom spotlessly clean, or get all the laundry folded by myself fast enough. I remember being told to clean the kitchen and if I missed even one spoon I had to redo the whole kitchen. When I was about 6 is when my step-brother raped me, repeatedly over the course of several months. My father and grandfather had also molested me and done horrible things. My grandfather would walk around completely naked and force me to look at his penis. My Mom knew this sort of stuff was happening, and she knew Chris raped me, but for some reason she still let me go over there every other weekend. I remember having full-on panic attacks and complete breakdowns because I didn't want to go, but she'd make me. Chris raping me became a huge deal for many years, with people defending him, or saying he didn't rape me, or justifying what he did to me, or say that I'm making it all up. I have really clear, vivid memories of it, though. I went to a therapist about it for a while, but my Mom never wanted to put in the effort to take me. My Grandma would drive all the way out to make sure I made it to the sessions. I was really scared there and I remember the therapists getting frustrated because absolutely nothing they tried would get me to talk and tell them what happened. They could never get me to tell them how far he went and the full extent of what he did, and I never told them about what my Father and Grandfather did. I only ever talked to my Grandma about those things because she was the only person I ever felt comfortable talking to.
By Mariah Kelley7 years ago in Families
30 Journal Entries to Self Discovery—Day 20
Hello all! Welcome to day twenty and day twenty-one! Yesterday was a little chaotic and I missed my writing time so here I am! I'm sorry if you actually missed me yesterday. But you get two of me today!!! Isn't that exciting? I hope so anyway. If it's annoying then thanks for still reading. Here's the quote of the day: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage - as long as you edit brilliantly."—C.J. Chennyh
By Michelle Schultz7 years ago in Families
Delilah's Story
I grew up in a small town in Illinois. All there was there was corn fields. The high school even had a ‘Bring Your Tractor to School Day!’ every year. Half the high school kids were farm kids who basically lived in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) classroom. The other half were smoking in the parking lot. Unless you were super involved in everything, you didn’t get noticed at my school.
By Malorie Anderson7 years ago in Families
Freedom's Restraint
I have to say, my life has truly been blessed. I've been told that my childhood and even teen years have been better than my oldest siblings. I've been told that I have more freedom to do things than they did when "they were your age." I find it kind of funny because even with all this freedom, I've still felt restrained from myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits and pieces, but we all have those moments and sometimes we have our whole lives questioning if we even fit in. Mine just happens to be my whole life.
By Adeline Cooper7 years ago in Families
