immediate family
Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.
Life
When I was really little my Mom left me with my Grandma and Grandpa so much I thought my Grandma was my Mom. I called her Mom and she would correct me, "No I'm not your Mom, I'm your Grandma." And once I was old enough to play by myself my Mom would always leave me by myself and she hardly ever interacted with me. Some people have fond memories of their Moms playing with them, or making lunch and eating together, or anything like that. I have memories of my Mom getting upset because I didn't get the bathroom spotlessly clean, or get all the laundry folded by myself fast enough. I remember being told to clean the kitchen and if I missed even one spoon I had to redo the whole kitchen. When I was about 6 is when my step-brother raped me, repeatedly over the course of several months. My father and grandfather had also molested me and done horrible things. My grandfather would walk around completely naked and force me to look at his penis. My Mom knew this sort of stuff was happening, and she knew Chris raped me, but for some reason she still let me go over there every other weekend. I remember having full-on panic attacks and complete breakdowns because I didn't want to go, but she'd make me. Chris raping me became a huge deal for many years, with people defending him, or saying he didn't rape me, or justifying what he did to me, or say that I'm making it all up. I have really clear, vivid memories of it, though. I went to a therapist about it for a while, but my Mom never wanted to put in the effort to take me. My Grandma would drive all the way out to make sure I made it to the sessions. I was really scared there and I remember the therapists getting frustrated because absolutely nothing they tried would get me to talk and tell them what happened. They could never get me to tell them how far he went and the full extent of what he did, and I never told them about what my Father and Grandfather did. I only ever talked to my Grandma about those things because she was the only person I ever felt comfortable talking to.
By Mariah Kelley7 years ago in Families
30 Journal Entries to Self Discovery—Day 20
Hello all! Welcome to day twenty and day twenty-one! Yesterday was a little chaotic and I missed my writing time so here I am! I'm sorry if you actually missed me yesterday. But you get two of me today!!! Isn't that exciting? I hope so anyway. If it's annoying then thanks for still reading. Here's the quote of the day: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage - as long as you edit brilliantly."—C.J. Chennyh
By Michelle Schultz7 years ago in Families
Delilah's Story
I grew up in a small town in Illinois. All there was there was corn fields. The high school even had a ‘Bring Your Tractor to School Day!’ every year. Half the high school kids were farm kids who basically lived in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) classroom. The other half were smoking in the parking lot. Unless you were super involved in everything, you didn’t get noticed at my school.
By Malorie Anderson7 years ago in Families
Freedom's Restraint
I have to say, my life has truly been blessed. I've been told that my childhood and even teen years have been better than my oldest siblings. I've been told that I have more freedom to do things than they did when "they were your age." I find it kind of funny because even with all this freedom, I've still felt restrained from myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits and pieces, but we all have those moments and sometimes we have our whole lives questioning if we even fit in. Mine just happens to be my whole life.
By Adeline Cooper7 years ago in Families
To Be or Not to Be a Mompreneur
At the heart of every great mother should be a stable, secure, and strong woman who knows her worth, role, and value. As you can see from the photo above I am a proud mother of six beautiful children ranging in age from three to 20 years old. Becoming a mother is the best thing that has ever happened to me but I did not want it to be the only thing that happened to me.
By Shafiah Khabeerah7 years ago in Families
Seventy
Written About My Papa As August 2014 winds to a humid close, the lid to my heart’s cedar chest of memories hearkens back to another August, one distant and cloaked in a recollection inherited from an old soldier of "The Greatest Generation" that I once called Grandpa.
By Drew Lindsey7 years ago in Families
A Little About Me
New day. I'm feeling good, overall. I have three boys, 15, 12 ½, and 11. I am truly blessed to have been with my husband for the years we have been together. We met when I was 18, fresh out of high school. Well, I was about to graduate when we met, but we started dating that fall when I started college.
By Silvia Quiroz8 years ago in Families
Moving Out Leads to Freedom
I remember moving out like it was four weeks ago—only it was. I will never forget the look on my mother’s face when I told her that I would not be spending another night under her roof, but under the Whitmore's. Her look was emotionless yet I could feel every emotion she felt—like they were screaming at my directly. The room stood silent but tense as my heart dropped from my chest to my toes. I could feel my mother’s heart shatter through her chest which proceeded in shattering mine. September 25, 2017 was my first day of college, the start of my freshman year, and the day I moved out and found freedom.
By Harley Tucker8 years ago in Families
Here Captain! Dear Father!
For some reason I always picture my father in the week where autumn turns to winter. It’s his favorite time of year because it’s where he feels most comfortable, which makes sense because my father is a man who likes to feel comfortable. Comfortability is the first step to having the upper hand, I think, and the upper-hand is a mandatory thing for men like my father, no matter how few there might be. And there in my head, with him in those last few days of November, sitting in a rocking chair on my porch, puffing on a pipe, frameless glasses and all, pursuing a Robert Frost collection, I am okay with him having the upper-hand.
By Finnegan Alexander8 years ago in Families
