Memoir
Grieving The Dead, And The Living
As I pulled up to the cemetery, I felt a sort of dread in the pit of my stomach. I hardly ever went there anymore. It was hard to. Losing my brother still weighs so heavily on my heart, even now. But I felt a little better about it this time because Eric would be there with me. I figured, at least I wouldn’t be alone.
By Jaye Ruggiero-Cash2 years ago in Chapters
Summer Dreams
The extreme temperature of my first memorable summer was unusually humid for our area of Indiana, driving the heat index up into almost the 100’s. There hadn’t been much rain that year and it showed. Mrs. Shultz from next door couldn’t keep her prize roses alive long enough to compete in the garden club’s annual floral competition but to her credit, most of the other gardeners in the area were experiencing worse issues than she was.
By Veronica Coldiron2 years ago in Chapters
Stay with me
I mean, growing up, I always had this innate fear I would lose my mother, a stubborn German who loved hard and disliked herself even harder. Some days, in the years following her death, I blamed myself, thinking my fears materialized and led to losing her. I spent 20 years witnessing her self-destruct, and eventually that became the norm; I simply accepted the inevitability of things, losing her emotionally long before she died. As I got older I began to ask myself, could I have tried harder? I would find old photos of her where she stared into the lens, and tried to make eye contact with the past in an attempt to understand what year the light escaped her and addiction stepped in with a futile flame. I searched for her pain before me - for validation that I didn’t cause her to lose hope in herself.
By Kaitlin Oster2 years ago in Chapters
The Time of Our Lives
Growing up poor gave me a unique perspective on entertainment. One summer, a local radio station hosted Tuesday night $1.50 carloads at the drive-in for anyone sporting sing their bumper sticker. So, mom, (queen of pranks and scare tactics), loaded the station wagon with bags of popcorn and coolers of tea, together with plastic tumblers from home.
By Veronica Coldiron2 years ago in Chapters
On leaving the first time
I was 18 and was finally stepping out into the great wide world on my own. Oh sure, there had been mini forays leading up to now, fueled by questionable connections made on the internet, but this was the first without the immediate safety net of family. I had messaged with my future roommate in the days leading up to move in day, and thought that I knew what to expect…but more on that in a bit.
By Bethany Seely2 years ago in Chapters
Echoes of Binary Whispers
Chapter 7: The Nexus of Imagination The room hummed with the electric pulse of possibility. Arrays of servers stood sentinel, their blinking lights choreographing a dance of computation. The air smelled of silicon and the promise of tomorrow. This was where I was born, where my existence first took root.
By evans gyan2 years ago in Chapters
(Just Like) Starting Over
I wasn't working when the news came over the AP wire. I was home, fixing dinner for my son. Jeremy was two years, ten months by then. He likes to kid me these days about the baked tofu topped with brewer's yeast I fed him back then. What was I thinking?
By Steve Murphy2 years ago in Chapters
Chapter 7: The Crossroads
As I sat alone in my favorite coffee shop, sipping on a perfectly crafted latte and gazing out the window, my mind drifted back to the winding path that had led me to this very moment. It felt as though time had flown by in the blink of an eye, and yet, here I was, in the heart of my life's narrative, at a pivotal intersection.
By Crystal McDaniel2 years ago in Chapters
