Lifestyle
For the lives that we love, and everything that comes with it.
Don't Be Afraid to Love Your Kids
Raising kids has always been hard, but lately navigating parenthood is overwhelming with a side of ridiculous. Kids don't come with instruction manuals; we are all learning as we go. When a struggling parent looks for advice these days, they are bombarded with a massive amount of advice and online articles giving opinions on every detail of parenthood, most of the time contradictory.
By Lana Hutchinson8 years ago in Families
The Ever-Changing Journey
That positive line appears and the excitement begins! Nine months of nausea, heartburn, and a never-ending groggy feeling. It may seem like a long time. You have so much time to get things accomplished! *BLINK* eight months had already gone by before I realized. We made the decision not to find out our baby's gender and it turned out to be the best decision I had made! At 37 weeks, after two weeks in a row of high blood pressure, I had blood work done and was called the very next day due to mild preeclampsia to come into the hospital to be induced. Uncomfortable beds, stuffy rooms (of course, you can't open a window!), and being strapped up to what felt like 8 million wires and machines just left me wanting to get the heck out of there. A day and half after being checked in at the hospital it was time. The decision had been made from the start for an all natural birth. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for me. As the pushing began our baby's vitals dropped. My heart stopped. The vitals returned to normal and we tried again. Our child was visible and ready to say hello but again that wasn't in the cards. With the second push, vitals dropped again. I wound up with a C-section and it may not have been the way I wanted it to go but I knew it was best for my child.
By Katherine Cooke8 years ago in Families
Recovering Mom
As a recovering mother, I would love to tell my story. It all started about 11 years ago. My life was a happy place. I was doing well in High School and plans were being made to go to college. As I entered my senior year of high school my life went from amazing to hazy in a heartbeat. I had started a new school and needed new friends, somehow I fell in with the wrong crowd. The drinkers and partiers. My first drink and drug I tried was at 17-years-old. I was hooked. I had a way of escaping my own reality, a way of getting to know my inner-most desires. As I continued through high school, my plans of college became a vanishing dream, my life a whirlwind of drinks and parties. My job, my savings, and my life was spent during that last year of high school. I barely graduated, barely remember graduating. The lifestyle of partying and drinking was the only thing on my mind. I quickly became a couch surfer, moving from place to place not having anything stable or anyone by my side, but that drink and that drug. Just after I turned 19, my own mother sent me off to a summer break hoping I would dry out and get myself straight in Tucson, Arizona. Instead of drying out, instead of sobering up, I found new friends to drink with the army camp. I dragged myself further and further down the desperate hole I was building in my life. Eventually, I was forced to leave Arizona. I came home, met a boy, fell in "love," and had a child at 20-years-old. The love of my life cheated on me for a new love of his life. My love for parties, new drugs, old drugs, and drinking was always up front. I eventually lost my daughter, leaving her to grow up without a mom. As time passes I fell in and out of desprate trouble, abusive relationships, and worsening habits that I wouldn't and couldn't control. I had two other wonderful children and eventually CPS came, stepped in, and stepped up while I was unable to be a mom. I lost all care custody and control of my children. But thankfully this is almost where my tragic tale ends. As CPS came in, they found I had severe issues with drugs and alcohol and heavy depression. This time in my life had become, by far, the most difficult with watching both of my little boys getting packed up and leaving our little home then being diagnosed with alcoholism and drug addiction. I was placed into a rehab with counseling, for all drug, alcohol, and all depression issues. I spent eighteen months helping myself. Slowly I got better, but sadly in that case, my children became adopted. I fell back to the dark recesses of my mind after that happened. I allowed my alcoholism to kick up, not like in the beginning, but just drinking quite often and trying to hide it while managing a somewhat normal life. Through this process, I would get sober for a small amount of time then lose it again. This process repeated itself over and over until I found a sponsor and read a very special twelve-step book. After working hard to stay sober and trusting the process, I have the ability to stay completely sober and drug-free. I am working at a wonderful job now and that little girl I mentioned is seven-years-old. And I have partial custody of her today!
By Michelle Hess8 years ago in Families
Why, On an Abstract Level, I’m Against Pets
People like to criticize PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, because of how many animals they euthanize. These armchair critics would have us believe that PETA euthanizes them because they don’t care about animals.
By Aulos.Media8 years ago in Petlife
A Child's Memories
The shiny wooden sea rolled on, we peered at it from the safe haven of our raft. The raft was a circular beacon of hope in the never-ending danger of the yellowy oak sea. The storm rolled on plunging the sky into darkness, the sun slowly being taken over by the blackness. The four of us whisper in shrill tones, excited by the danger and mystery. Tiny hands held in tiny hands, curly locks wild in their own rights. The eyes wide with the wonder only a child could possess, taking in their surroundings and projecting back a whole new world. The purple and green plaid circle was the only source of life until we see it in the distance, we huddle together unsure if it’s just a trick our eyes are playing on us. No, there it is! The thing that can save us. The ship was magnificent and glowing. The gray-whiteness of the hull calling to us through the storm. We knew we only had one choice, so we leapt agilely on our little feet and prayed our thin legs were strong enough to propel us to safety. Four bodies hit the deck with a soft thud followed by muffled laughter. We all made it!
By Alina Gallupe8 years ago in Families
My Life Under Golden Arches
I wouldn’t have called myself a happy child growing up. Everything was stressful, anxiety provoking, or just upsetting. My mother was always fighting with my grandparents; we lived with them because my mom was a single parent and couldn’t do it on her own. They would fight after I went to sleep, thinking I couldn't hear them.
By Emma Bukovsky8 years ago in Families
Does Free Will Really Exist?
I was sitting in church this Sunday. This day I was so in tune with just me and the higher power. I was in my own head giving thanks to the higher power for my life and the life of my loved ones. The pastor kept referencing free will. This idea that we all have 100% choice over our everyday actions given to us by god to choose a life that guides you either on a path of destruction or a path to everlasting life. Do I believe that we have free will? My answer is a flat-out no. In my views, no government system that exists on our globe fully gives humans that capacity for free choice because all practices are taught within systems and structures. There are always limits to how we dress, communicate, and exist around each other.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa8 years ago in Viva
