humanity
Humanity begins at home.
A Gift of Wisdom: Journey of an Awakening Soul
I was born in December in the late 80's on the cusp of dawn in a suite at a small hospital off the coast of a mid-California beach city. The doctors all thought I would be a boy. So convinced were they that my parents had already decided on a boy's name and were caught without a baby girl's name when I surprised everyone.
By Amber J Lash6 years ago in Families
Surviving Childhood Trauma
As a survivor of extreme sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a child, I allowed what was happening to me to affect me as a teenager and then as an adult. I developed low self-esteem, anger issues and anorexia that almost killed me. I had no one advocate for me after I told my mother what was happening at the hands of her own brother. Her response was I must have been a child abuser in a previous life and I was getting my karma paid back to me for doing that. She did NOTHING to her brother. She actually embraced him. She forced me to endure family get-together's with her brother, I was not allowed to have a voice or an opinion or a childhood. He was sexually abusing my sister and my cousin too but I received the worst from him because I was the fighter. I would kick him and punch him when he touched me. He threatened to kill me several times if I told. He even went so far as to put dead animals in my lunch box to "show me" what he would do to me if I told. He would chase me with running chainsaws like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre character. To this day, hearing a chainsaw gives me anxiety. I finally got away from the sexual abuse when one of the twelve husbands my mother had was transferred out of the country for a government job when I was 13 years old. I had endured torturous abuse from the age of 4 to 13. I could not get over what happened to me and I could not forgive my mother for allowing it to go on as long as it did and doing nothing and not protecting me.
By Tamara Echols6 years ago in Families
Big Girl
Big Girl By Gabriela Dimitrova The pleasure of hearing the clicking of hooves on the cobble-stone road countered the discomfort Sylvie felt each time the mule-drawn cart jutted with a crunchy thud. She loved everything about her Grandma’s country town, Montana, which stretched on 15 hectares of treasured coal-black Bulgarian soil.
By Gabriela Dimitrova 6 years ago in Families
Lessons From My Terminal Grandmother
The Big C In the Fall of 2018, my father received a call from his Aunt Elizabeth who had grave news. My Omi (which means grandmother in German), was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer that had spread to her liver. She would need chemotherapy, drives to and from doctor’s appointments, and help around the house. Considering the estranged relationship between my father and his mother and my daytime availability since I was in school at the time, I felt it was my duty to step in. Selfishly, it was also an opportunity to not live at home anymore – as if subbing out one adult’s abode for another meant I was more independent.
By Jennifer Fischer6 years ago in Families
Blue and happy moments
She was sleeping, she had swept, done the dishes and cleaned the house.He was working late as usual. He walks in kisses her first and says, what's for dinner honey? She serves his plate with a beer on the side. She's still sleepy from waking at 5 am to make him breakfast before he leaves for work. He looks at her and says, did you warm this up? She looks at the food that has been sitting on the stove for hours and realizes she hadn't warmed the food.
By Rhonda Tatefrost6 years ago in Families
New Years Day
“It’s another day of pouring another drink and another day of waiting for love.” Zenei murmured, twisting and killing the last cent of his cigarette in the ash tray, over filling with his past drags. The Uncle would always pour his thoughts into the ash tray. Each puff, a piece of wisdom finding peace. Ben Geinon, his delighted nephew would often find himself the victim of Zenei’s company, and although it was overwhelming at times, it soothed the soul.
By Nathan Shane Prior6 years ago in Families
Time to try new things
Well a few things have happened. I'm not actually sure where to start. I decided after a long debate not to return to my job after my maternity leave came to its end. A number of reasons for this - primarily, the travel time and distance, and how it would affect little Daniel. If I am going to work again, I would like to build a career here, close to home.
By Rhea Bombay6 years ago in Families
The Flowers
The flowers were wilted. It was the first thing she noticed. There was a side table to the left. Just inside the door. “Come in and I’ll make some tea”. The words seemed sincere but the look on her face said otherwise. Did she really want me to be there? Am I actually welcome or was this just the “pleasantries” that Momma had warned me about when someone doesn’t really want you around but just allows you to take up space. Sonya didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be that girl. And yet... she was that girl.
By Kia McKinney6 years ago in Families
Voiceforothers
Unless you’ve walked in the shoes of a caregivers of patients with brain disorders, you can never truly relate to this journey. This journey is really about the reality world of these patients. It’s about speaking Alzheimer’s. It’s about discerning the language of the patient with dementia. It’s about understanding, that this disease is so much harder on the patients than you can even imagine. Sure, caregivers have struggles but we are blessed to have sound and healthy minds. Imagine for a moment, listening to gibberish in your mind telling you a million things at one time. Imagine being disoriented, unbalanced trying to figure out what’s going on in your head and trying to figure out why you cannot explain what’s happening to you, when you know something isn’t right. Imagine being frightened, wanting someone to understand you, help you, protect you but you can’t bring yourself to trust anyone because you don’t recognize trust and don’t know how to ask for help.
By Patricia Stone6 years ago in Families
