Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Families.
The Eternal Bond of Brother and Sister
I was born in a secluded village on a mountain. Day after day, my parents plowed the yellow dry soil with their backs towards the sky. One day, I wanted to buy a handkerchief, which all girls around me seemed to have. So, one day I stole 50 cents from my father’s drawer. Father discovered about the stolen money right away.
By Zulqarnain Haider6 years ago in Families
Mary - Our MOM
MARY - Favored, Uplifting, and a Survivor is the lady that I have known all my life. She is the one who gave me and my sisters life. She has been a very important part to our family because she never gave up when the road got tough. She never gave up on us and she made sacrifices to assure that her girls made something of themselves. I grateful for the Powers to Be for giving us her as a mother each day. She wasn't perfect but she was faithful to her children and family. She was strict but loving. She is strong but gentle. She is funny and serious. She is a survivor of life's ups and downs and always finds a way to rejoice in the journey. She is about to celebrate 82 years of life on March 26 giving to those around her to make sure they were okay. When our father was away in Vietnam she held down the fort of taking care of 3 little girls and his aging parents. When dad came home he had a hard time holding down a job but mom made sure we never missed a beat. There was always food on the table and we had clothes on our back, roof over our heads and she made sure we were in school every day. It was only later in life that we had a better understand of her life when we were young and many wouldn't understand until they grow up and have children and have to make sacrifices. She was and is a precious to us.
By Valerie Hall Butler6 years ago in Families
COVID-19 and the Caregiver
Let me tell you a story about the time that I was a caregiver for both of my parents from a past flu season (Mom passed in 2017, and Papa followed her the following year). I will preface by saying that both of my parents had their flu shots a month and a half prior to this particular incident. I did not because those flu shots knock me out for a while, and as the sole breadwinner of the family, I couldn’t afford that at the time.
By Diana Pinero6 years ago in Families
His wings were ready; my heart was not.
Hi readers I am Alexis, Brandon Chrisan aka Kyle Dean’s mom2. I have been his mom2 since he was 5 years old. In each of my stories I am going to share about falling in love with my kid and left shattered from his senseless death. Let’s face it, there really aren’t too many books on a stepmom who’s not wicked but smitten with her eldest boy on how to grieve if he should die before you? How to not pine for him? Cry for him? You will learn about the kind, funny, wore his heart on a sleeve Brandon. You will also learn about how I felt just like I had given birth to him never differentiating he wasn't biologically mine. And, hopefully at the conclusion of Born to be Brandon’s mom and Kyle Dean’s, you will hopefully feel as if he knew he was born to be my boy too. I will touch on the abuse I felt Brandon endured, the conversations of “He needs to come to Texas; Brandon needs to be heard and grounded, so he doesn’t float away”. The control, manipulation and bitterness fueled by alcohol and the lack of love he received when he wasn’t home in Texas. I know everyone wants to know his cause of death and I will get there I promise. There are many facets to life, people never really think about. I am here to hopefully give a voice in this new club of being minus one kid here in this atmosphere. That tragic day, with a cold, callous stepdad with the words “Brandon’s dead”, to his mom2 of the exact time period of 17 years, 9-28-2018 was the worst day ever in my life and 17 years of being together with his dad. A bittersweet day I wished never had existed. Don't be too harsh on me, I am from Texas, and I haven't written in quite a while.
By Alexis Chrisan6 years ago in Families
The Children Who Inspire
When I think about the women who have inspired me in my life, I find that I am confronted by a mental list that is broader than it is long. It is hard to place those that lead in a linear field: their influence is one which has as much breadth as depth.
By Dorothy Henderosn6 years ago in Families
Stay at Home, Working Mom
Congratulations on being a mother! We can all agree that this is one of the hardest, but rewarding jobs a woman can have! When my son was born, I instantly had a desire to give him everything in the world. I wanted to be a stay at home mom. Unfortunately, I was a single parent in a sticky financial situation. I was fresh out of high school and still working in the food industry. Lucky for me, God answered prayer and soon I was home full time with my son, and earning a salary!
By Stephanie Nail6 years ago in Families
My Big Fat Greek.....Life
As many may have figured from my last name starting with an X and sounding like something you’ve never even heard of I am here to tell that even though many may think that my life is certainly compared the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” there are many things that are very different in comparison. For one, my dad doesn’t chase people around the house with windex cleanse and spray us with it if we have an ailment, even though that was pretty funny 🤣and another big thing that many non-Greeks believe after watching this movie is that all Greeks must marry within the Greek community. Well I beg to differ on that one. My godmother actually married an Italian man, hence making my godfather a non-Greek and my two god sisters half Italian and half Greek which in my book is a pretty cool mix. My back story starts like this; my dad first came to the US in the late 1970’s when he was only about 18 years old. He lived in Jersey City, New Jersey and took the ferry into Manhattan and worked as a dishwasher just trying to make ends meet. A few years go by, circa 1983 he goes back to the motherland to become a godfather himself, to who else, my older cousin George. Mind you my aunt set this up completely because she wanted him to meet my mother. And so the story goes that my dad met my mom at my cousins baptism and year later they were married. Eventually they moved back to Jersey and three years later they had my sister, Maria. When she was three they moved to Long Island, NY and two years after that they decided to have me 😳🙂🤣. At the time my dad and uncle Mike had opened up their little version of a coffee shop in Forest Hills, Queens, (which is still there folks go check it out it’s the bomb diggity!). It’s still there to this day even though with this whole corona virus going on we are still doing deliveries and take outs so please go check us out! We need all the help we can get!! But anyway, growing up with 2 immigrant parents from Greece has been totally normal besides the fact that I had to go to Greek school and Greek dance and Sunday school on sundays I still did the normal everyday kid things. I played clarinet in the elementary school band and I was even a Girl Scout. But let me not bore you any further, yes my family is huge and loud and I love them all to death. Hope you like my story 🙂🧐
By Angela Xerakias7 years ago in Families
Perdido
“I’m lost,” The young boy says again, his small, quiet voice screaming in my head. Forcing me to listen, I look down at him, his dark brown hair falling just shy of his eyebrows, his bed dress a grey colour, drowning him in the material. And his beautiful lapis-lazuli eyes gazing at me with hope. I look away in shame and close my eyes tight to block out the image that is before me. I hold back tears with all my strength, not wanting to show the young one my guilt. As I look back to him, all I see is the edge of the cliff. I turn sharply and see the boy standing behind me, he coughs and I fly backwards off of the edge.
By Saffron Dixon7 years ago in Families
9 Things That I Wasn’t Expecting When I Had an Emergency C-Section
After the gruelling labour of my 9lb 9oz son ended in him being forcibly removed by a nice, Scottish doctor wielding a pair of forceps, I was no stranger to the fact that childbirth doesn't always go to plan. Well prepared that I probably wasn't going to have an easy time, my "birth plan" was simple. Get to the hospital; remain calm; stay upright and active as much as possible; and do everything I could to avoid having a caesarean.
By Rebekah Crawley7 years ago in Families
