Memoir
Summer Dreams
The extreme temperature of my first memorable summer was unusually humid for our area of Indiana, driving the heat index up into almost the 100’s. There hadn’t been much rain that year and it showed. Mrs. Shultz from next door couldn’t keep her prize roses alive long enough to compete in the garden club’s annual floral competition but to her credit, most of the other gardeners in the area were experiencing worse issues than she was.
By Veronica Coldiron2 years ago in Chapters
Stay with me
I mean, growing up, I always had this innate fear I would lose my mother, a stubborn German who loved hard and disliked herself even harder. Some days, in the years following her death, I blamed myself, thinking my fears materialized and led to losing her. I spent 20 years witnessing her self-destruct, and eventually that became the norm; I simply accepted the inevitability of things, losing her emotionally long before she died. As I got older I began to ask myself, could I have tried harder? I would find old photos of her where she stared into the lens, and tried to make eye contact with the past in an attempt to understand what year the light escaped her and addiction stepped in with a futile flame. I searched for her pain before me - for validation that I didn’t cause her to lose hope in herself.
By Kaitlin Oster2 years ago in Chapters
The Time of Our Lives
Growing up poor gave me a unique perspective on entertainment. One summer, a local radio station hosted Tuesday night $1.50 carloads at the drive-in for anyone sporting sing their bumper sticker. So, mom, (queen of pranks and scare tactics), loaded the station wagon with bags of popcorn and coolers of tea, together with plastic tumblers from home.
By Veronica Coldiron2 years ago in Chapters
On leaving the first time
I was 18 and was finally stepping out into the great wide world on my own. Oh sure, there had been mini forays leading up to now, fueled by questionable connections made on the internet, but this was the first without the immediate safety net of family. I had messaged with my future roommate in the days leading up to move in day, and thought that I knew what to expect…but more on that in a bit.
By Bethany Seely2 years ago in Chapters
Echoes of Binary Whispers
Chapter 7: The Nexus of Imagination The room hummed with the electric pulse of possibility. Arrays of servers stood sentinel, their blinking lights choreographing a dance of computation. The air smelled of silicon and the promise of tomorrow. This was where I was born, where my existence first took root.
By evans gyan2 years ago in Chapters
(Just Like) Starting Over
I wasn't working when the news came over the AP wire. I was home, fixing dinner for my son. Jeremy was two years, ten months by then. He likes to kid me these days about the baked tofu topped with brewer's yeast I fed him back then. What was I thinking?
By Steve Murphy2 years ago in Chapters
Chapter 7: The Crossroads
As I sat alone in my favorite coffee shop, sipping on a perfectly crafted latte and gazing out the window, my mind drifted back to the winding path that had led me to this very moment. It felt as though time had flown by in the blink of an eye, and yet, here I was, in the heart of my life's narrative, at a pivotal intersection.
By Crystal McDaniel2 years ago in Chapters
She loves you in her own way is what they like to say. Content Warning.
Uncle Adam dropped us off in the city centre on his way to work. We emerged near the Wawel Hill, ready to climb the steep path to the castle. It was hot already despite the early hour, even in the shaded parts close to the stone walls towering over the path. Mother was keen on seeing as much as possible: the State Rooms, the Crown Treasury, the Cathedral. I thought that the crown jewels looked surprisingly garish and felt out of breath in narrow and gloomy royal crypts beneath the floor of the Cathedral. Their cold was a welcome respite from the heat though.
By Katarzyna Popiel2 years ago in Chapters
Chapter of memoir
My first friends name was Leo. I can sort of remember what he looks like, but sometimes I get confused if he had red or black hair. He wasn’t real. My second friend was named Sarah, she was older than me and I too, sometimes get confused about her hair color. She wasn’t real either. My first best friends name is A. She was born to our parents when I was 15 months old. I slept beside her crib a lot after our parents put us to bed. I never liked sleeping alone, I have nightmares. My mom would come check on us in the middle of the night and sometimes take me back to my own bed. I have small memory of her telling me I shouldn’t sleep on the floor. Currently though, on this date, my mattress lies on the floor without a frame. I’m too good at listening to rules, so I let our first family dog, Oko sleep beside her crib. When she was older and got a bed, I’d sometimes sleep on the floor beside that. A loved stuffies, hundreds off stuffed animals, most (if not all) with names. I had a few, I had a bumble bee I once threw out of the car window while my mom was driving, she pulled over and went and got it for me. I think I might still have it, I can’t remember. I also had Button Nose, a tiny small teddy bear who once got his nose ripped off my one of my cousins. Someone sewed it back on for me. I had Moose, a creative name for a small stuffed moose that my uncle ky, who now watches over me. I also had Red, a red teddy bear that was well made and wears a scarf. When I bought my first home in Southern, AB, I had so much joy from my friends little girl who was really drawn to Red; she carried her around all day during a visit and it bought me so much love to my heart. One night, our mother had no patience for mine and A's shenanigans, but she must have heard us giggling or something, because she came into Adoncias room to check on us. We heard her coming from upstairs, and I jumped into the strategically piled stuffies, and I hid as I watched my mom come in and do a double take. She went back upstairs, or maybe into my room where I would hide pillows in my bed in hopes of tricking her that I was in my own bed. Me and A found so much laughter and power in that moment. I still sleep better with someone else in bed with me.
By DESTINEE FREEDOM2 years ago in Chapters
