Tag: family

Maybe It Wasn’t My Fault

Reagan Brooks

Lacey could tell something was off. “What’s wrong, Mom?” “Nothing, Honey. But we need to talk – all of us.” Her mother meant all of “the girls” She looked at her three daughters warily. “Something’s happened, and I don’t know how to tell you.” “What happened? Are grandma and grandpa Read more

Reagan Brooks

Reagan Brooks is a college student from Texas. She had a difficult upbringing and finds writing her experiences helpful for her healing process. She hopes her story can help others and bring peace to those that need it.

Tucking In

Ann Klotz

We stood on the hillside, the early July sun warm, the notes of Danny Boy on the bagpipes lingered in the blue air.  It was not like other funerals–no lowering the casket on a winch, no Astroturf around a large grave.  Three small holes had been prepared. Daddy had died in January, Read more

Ann Klotz

I am a writer and mother, living in Shaker Heights, OH, where I am the Head of Laurel School, a girls' school. Our house is full of books and tiny rescue dogs. My work has appeared in Literary Mama, Mothers Always Write, the Brevity Blog, Mutha, Mamlode, The Grief Diaries, Manifest Station and elsewhere. My essay about becoming a teacher was recently published in Creative Nonfiction's anthology What I Didn't Know. I blog semi-regularly for the Huffington Post.

Learning to Thrive

Dana Boyer

In July 2014, in Okinawa, Japan, I got pregnant with our second boy. Fresh off a miscarriage and two months before we were due to move eastward across the Pacific, this little one was anything but planned. I know the trend today is to say ‘We are pregnant’, emphasizing the Read more

Dana Boyer

Since graduating with an MA in Creative Writing form the University of Nebraska, Dana Boyer has been writing and traveling her way around the world. Her work appears in The Tishman Review, A Clean, Well Lighted Place and the anthology My Body, My Words. She currently lives in Florida with her husband and two sons.

When the Bomb Sounds

Sara Dutilly

My uncle has been sending me letters. He’s been telling me about his time in Vietnam. How, even though it was just a tiny percentage of his life, it is a time he never forgets. He says he’s a tormented artist. He says he’s tried to write about it. He’s Read more

Sara Dutilly

Sara Dutilly studied creative writing at High Point University and today she stays at home with her three children, writing and wrangling and finding countless surprises along both paths. Her work has appeared in r.k.v.ry., Quarterly Journal, Mothers Always Write, and PopSugar. A few years ago her husband purchased her a website for Mother's Day and she's been writing her mothering stories at www.haikuthedayaway.com.

After Dinner

Victoria Addesso

My twenty-year-old son, Billy, and his girlfriend, Alex, nineteen, cooked dinner for me tonight. Gemelli pasta in a cream sauce with mushrooms, zucchini, garlic and pecorino romano cheese. Delicious. It was late – 9pm. Billy had yelled up the stairs to his younger brother, Steven, when the food was ready, Read more

Victoria Addesso

Vicki Addesso has worked in various fields over the years, full-time and part-time. In between family life and bill-paying endeavors, she works at writing. Co-author of the collaborative memoir Still Here Thinking of You~A Second Chance With Our Mothers (Big Table Publishing, 2013), she has had work published in Gravel Magazine, Barren Magazine, The Writer, Sleet Magazine, Damselfly Press, Feminine Collective, and Tweetspeak Poetry. A personal essay is included in the anthology My Body My Words, edited by Loren Kleinman and Amye Archer. You can follow Vicki on Twitter @VickiAddesso.

My Truths

Emily Miller

I am almost 42 years old, in the middle chapter of my life. Large volumes of experiences are now behind me, and large volumes are yet to come if I am lucky. I have been married for 18 years and started my marriage when I was a baby. I didn’t Read more

Emily Miller

Emily Miller passionately writes about her personal experiences and all things related to motorcycles. She is the mother of two spirited and inspiring children. Her husband accompanies her on many adventures but mostly on the adventure of life. Bend, Oregon is her hometown and you can find her actively volunteering and working in the community there. Follow her work of LifeofMoto.com

The First Time I Saw My Baby Sleeping

Dori Owen

The first time I saw my baby sleeping was on Highway 89 halfway between Lake Tahoe and Truckee. His head was slightly tipped back and he was breathing so quietly I had to strain to catch every breath. My view of him was from the front seat of my Jeep Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

First Comes Love, Then Comes?

Deanna Keller

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Deanna pushing a baby carriage. Most of us grew up singing this little ditty in the schoolyard when our friends expressed their “love” for someone of the opposite sex. The expectation set forth as children was to “grow up, get married and Read more

Deanna Keller

Growing up under the hot Kansas sun, Deanna Keller spent many hours sitting under the apricot tree with her nose either in a book or writing in her scruffy notebooks, carefully composing stereotypically bad teenage poetry with a number two pencil. Exploring writing as an adult, she found her voice blogging about her observations and musings surrounding life under the pen name, Avie Layne, which she has done for the past five years. Additionally, she has been blogging for The Journey Seeker and has been a guest blogger for OMighty Crisis. Creative Writing classes at college opened her eyes to the idea of short stories for young adults and ignited new writing passion--many based on the stories of her parent’s poor childhood growing up in the Ozarks of Arkansas in the late 40s early 50s, while others have been based on her own crazy life. Deanna completed her undergraduate at The College of St. Scholastica in English I 2017. Taking a 1-year break, she will continue on to a Master’s in English then on to an MA-TESOL at Arizona State. She plans to pass along the love of reading and writing to future students and assist young writers in finding their own writing voice. Currently, she provides free community writing workshops geared towards journal and personal story writing. Deanna’s motto is, “Never let anyone prevent you from reaching for your dreams. The only failure is in not trying.”