family

Family can be our support system. Or they can be part of the problem. All about the complicated, loving, and difficult relationship with us and the ones who love us.

My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Each phase of my childhood had different bedtime books associated with them. My earliest memory of one was Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney next was The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey all up through the second grade when I read myself books every night. My house wasn’t always the most stable growing up and reading (especially late at night when other things were going on downstairs) was a great escape. By fourth grade I had been gifted a small reading light and I read the entire Harry Potter series in just over a month. Reading far into the night and often I would wake up with the book still on me.
By Anilynn Cadell5 years ago in Psyche
My Angel
February 4th, 2019 was the day my life as I knew it came to a screeching halt. Our lives were torn to shreds. Our family ripped apart. My heart, destroyed. Your trust in me, obliterated. Your heart and soul, so filled with light and love, joy and passion, kindness and caring, crushed. That was the day they took you away from me. The day they kidnapped you. Didn't they see that you were so loved? Couldn't they hear that you WERE in the best home for you? Your 5 year old little body faught so hard to try to get out of their arms and run to the police car, screaming for mommy and bawling your eyes out. I still hear it as if it's happening every minute of every day, over and over again. My Little Love, I'm so sorry. My heart will never be ok. I know you're doing well with your adopted family, and I'm thankful for that. So thankful. But oh how I miss you!
By Cricket Knott5 years ago in Psyche
From Purgatory to Present
After getting in a motorcycle accident and breaking 23 bones in my face, plus a permanently separated clavicle, including loss of vision in my left eye and taste & smell. Not to mention my IQ dropping to around ~55 from 128 and always in a dream world, except the last 2 days where I remember some things. I needed to be cut open from ear-to-ear to insert metal plates where the skull cracked and realign the broken facial bones. The Norse God Odin willingly gave up his eye and hung himself on Yggdrasil tree until re-born in exchange for all knowledge and wisdom in the universe, including runes (writing!). Sometimes a sacrifice is required to see what has been missing the whole time is what I discovered, and usually it's right in front of you as we fixate on other goals.
By Andrew Dixon5 years ago in Psyche
The Room & the Womb
She hears them out there. They have the sound of her mother’s sighs, her children’s cries, the hollow echo of all the lies she tells herself; sometimes the simpering of dreams curing in the dark. Mostly, they sound like the slow gnawing of guilt—guilt for all the times she wanted to write, craved it, but the baby was ruddy with teething, the cat had eaten a bait, the dishes formed impossible puzzles in the sink, and her fingers hovered and stilled on the keypad, and her eyelids fluttered, and sleep claimed her.
By Karin C5 years ago in Psyche
Summer 2017
The cicadas screech in tune with the hot sticky air drifting in through the bathroom window. I push my glasses to my forehead and rub my eyes with my fists. I pull open my red drawstring bag—perched on the sink ledge—and shuffle through its contents. My notebook, pens and pencils, phone, earbuds, pink sanitary pads, a brochure for the Hakone Open Air Museum, and the sole of my right tennis shoe—are all passed through to grab my clear plastic hair clips. I should’ve brought hair ties.
By ayame5 years ago in Psyche
An Ode to a Woman
When I became a mother and started to love my son, I became painfully aware of all the ways that my own mother did not love me. I became painfully aware of a truth that at the core of my being I have felt since I was very young but have allocated an immeasurable amount of defense to protecting; my mother never loved me.
By Aubree Unruh 5 years ago in Psyche
When you loose a loved one
“You will survive, and you will find purpose in this chaos. Going on with life does not mean letting go. ”~ Mary VanHaute
By Aava Sharma5 years ago in Psyche
My Darling Daughter Sophie
My darling Sophie. You were born at 15.23 on Sunday 29th September 2002 on the labour ward (I can't remember which one it was now) at Warrington My mum (your birth nana) and middle sister, Emma (your birth auntie) were with me when I was taken to the hospital, but at around 2.30pm, my middle sister (your birth auntie) Emma (who was heavily pregnant with your birth cousin Ryan at the time) wanted to go back to our auntie (your birth great-auntie) Janet's, so our mum (your birth nana) asked me if it was ok for your auntie Emma to go back to our auntie Janet's and I said that she could as long as she sent our auntie Janet, so Emma went back to our auntie Janet's.
By Toni Bennett5 years ago in Psyche
Childhood Trauma
”why didn’t you report them” is the question I always got but when you were abused by the woman who raised you the woman you saw as a mother and sadly love you just can’t go though with it. This is called Stockholm syndrome not many are familiar with the word but means that the victim formed a bond with the abuser. I am now 18 and free from my abuser I am telling my story so that people are more aware of abuse going on in children’s lives and for the people who are still going through it.
By Breanna Zuniga5 years ago in Psyche
Soldier Ants of Correction
The story I'm about to share is a complex one that started a turning point in my life and before I start, bear in mind that I was brought up in the deep villages of Enugu, Nigeria in West Africa and soups were generally spicier there. I will also invite you to have an open mind about the activities that occurred in the story and to know that I was an exceptionally stubborn child that often required drastic measures to affect correction. On that note, I will like to take you back to the beginning of 2004, the year I was all of 11 years and also the year I got it into my head to graduate from stealing pieces of meat from the pot of soup to stealing from my mother’s purse to buy things I couldn't remember today even if it could save a dying baby.
By Nneka Anieze5 years ago in Psyche
Mental Illness Signs in Your Children That You Are Ignoring
In today's world life has begun to resemble a treadmill. Being engaged in our own problems and mishaps, there can be times we overlook the clear signs of help our loved ones are asking for. Children too, go through a lot in their growing stages. There are times when they might try to talk to you or share how they are feeling, but, you may treat their issues as being relatively less important to what’s going on with you in life. You might think that they are small and ignore them, but this creates a wall between you and them which gets thicker over time.
By Niyati Jain5 years ago in Psyche
Be The Boss Mom
I was not the favorite child. I was born the last of eight children, nearly all of which were adults by the time of my birth, with children of their own, save one—a sister, five years my elder. By the time my parents got to me, I was an afterthought. My sister, being their miracle child after the loss of two infant sons back-to-back. She was the miracle child and it was a miracle I even existed.
By Kayla Crowell5 years ago in Psyche