How I Uncovered Long Forgotten Meaning in Our Family’s Christmas Traditions

I was 8-years-old when I realized there was no Santa Claus. I’d lost the Snow White watch I’d received for Christmas—the one with the yellow leather band that came with a plastic figurine of my favorite Disney character. Sitting at breakfast some months later, I confessed the watch was missing. Read more

Are You There? It’s Me, Your Younger Self

Kindergarten. First grade. Second grade. Those were the years that I endured bullying. I remember in first grade, the year I got glasses; I began getting teased. I didn’t understand why, especially when I wore purple glasses with speckles. How could nobody like them? My hair, it was so long, Read more

After the Murder

“Your coffin reached the monstrous hole. And a part of me went down into the muddy earth with you and lay down next to you and died with you.” ― Rosamund Lupton, Sister After the murder, my prayers went something like this: “Help me. God, help me. Please, fucking help Read more

Sometimes, A Man Still Needs His Mom

“…a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” – Ephesians 5:31 “Sometimes, a man still needs his mom.” – Dave Pacailler, November 2016 At 81 years old, my mother is the epitome of old-school tradition. She goes Read more