Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
She Paves
This beautiful lady in the photo above is Hodayah. She is a nurse, therapist, teacher, chef, driver, respected janitor, comedian, and my everything. However, professionally she is known to be my mother. These titles she attained through her loving and nurturing air that she boldly carries and exercises throughout all aspects of her life. Whether its dealing with her children, grandchildren, friends and friendly strangers, she is always kind and supportive.
By Human Being6 years ago in Families
Lovely she is in all her Glory.
Lovely she is in all of her glory. The most incredible of stories. Queen graced with a crown of honor, rich in integrity, drenched in royalty. Her love unmatched, pure in form. She drips GOLD! Her walk is commanding; strides of purpose. Can’t help but gaze. She is peace. Lingers in opulence leaving the sweetest trail. The universe shifts for her. The sun shines for her. Stars dance for her. Her beauty indescribable. Her creator so proud. How blessed we are. Intelligent, witty, loyal, kind, inspiring, lovely she is!
By Winnie Opakunle6 years ago in Families
My Mom; The Superhuman
My mom is a superhero, and I'm not just saying that because she is my mom. She is superhuman. She has super strength; she can lift a bed with one hand. She can make people feel peace; I once saw her breath peace over my tiny baby cousin as she gasped for air from feeling a pain too overwhelming for a baby. She has this amazing ability to make things happen; all my siblings and I had to do was think about being hungry, and my mom would have a full course meal already prepared. She could stretch, kind of like the mother form the Incredibles. I watched her stretch a 20-dollar bill and make it enough to feed a family of 5. I also once saw her come out of a horrible car crash, unscathed, not one single scratch, like who does that?
By Nikeeya Ali6 years ago in Families
Daughter of the Sea
She wakes before the sun, eyes quickly adjusting to the cool darkness that will slowly fill with the quiet, early movements of the island. She rises and heads downstairs to take the buckets for collecting the neighbors’ leftovers; pigs’ feed that will sell for a little extra, and proceeds to quickly make her rounds on the empty streets of the town. She likes the early mornings and the quiet. This island is home, playground, work place and school but in these hours, it was peace.
By Renee Fajardo6 years ago in Families
Ruby Rare
There is no one more inspirational to me than my mother. She is a rare breed. And when I say rare, I mean ruby rare. The kind of ruby rare that you think you’ll never find. Not in this lifetime. Not in the next. She is special. She is my ruby rare. I usually call her mama instead of mom or mommy, because for me, mama sounds so much more comforting. Comfort, along with love, care, and sacrifice, is what my mother represents. She raised four children, two boys and two girls. And she made it look effortless. Even in times of struggle, she never let us kids see that times were hard. She made the best effort to give us the kind of life she felt we deserved.
By Cassandra Henry6 years ago in Families
The Other KOUL Sister
There’s four of us “Koulabdara kids” in my family, two boys and two girls. Growing up, I was always dubbed as “the smart one”, Bay, my older brother, “the artistic one”, Mickey, my younger brother, “the baby” and then there was my older sister, Kay, “the beautiful one”.
By Sera Koulabdara6 years ago in Families
I am because she was.
There's a photo of my great-grandmother; she is standing with her sister and sister in law with the biggest smile on her face. It is my favorite photo of her. She is in her twenties with her two best friends, my Aunt Nunnie her sister, and my Aunt Willa Mae, who would eventually become her sister in law. I love this photo because it is rare. It is unique because I am seeing her before she was a wife; before she was a mother, a grandmother, and great-grandmother. I'm seeing her as just Mary, a woman in her twenties dreaming of something more. I had seen this photo many times before. It had a place in all of the homes she lived in until her death. But it wasn't until after she died that I understood the depth of this photo. I realized that I only knew one part of her life and story. That I only knew her for a brief period of her life. But that short period profoundly impacts my life.
By Amber Shephard6 years ago in Families
A Little Map of Hope
Picture this: You’ve just turned eighteen. You’re wearing a long red shirt with a new pair of tight jeans that you very consciously entrusted with boosting your confidence for the day. After years of dreaming about it, you worked your way to reaching a destination that is presently 1,697.41 miles away from home, and you think you’re ready. You think you’re ready in that petulant way teenagers always swear they are… but when your mami implies that she’s finally leaving the room, the fact that you’re not suddenly sneaks up on you.
By Alejandra Rivera Flaviá6 years ago in Families
