Stephanie – I cannot express adequately how the trauma of my childhood has carried over into my adult years
When I was just a toddler, my mom married my stepfather. She had just dissolved her marriage with my biological father mere months earlier. My stepfather brought 3 of his own children to the marriage. He had been divorced from their mother. My baby brother was a...
Victoria – The impact of total abandonment by my biological father, and in part by my mother, has left me with emotional pain that still plays out today
My purpose in writing this is to explain some of the pain I have experienced by not having my mother and father raise me. I hope my story can be a cautionary tale for anyone considering sex outside of traditional marriage. In no way do I advocate for abortion. I am...
Samuel – I tried to tell her the divorce had really affected me, but she told me to get over it and that she needed the divorce for herself
I’ve been meaning to write about my childhood for years but I kept kicking the can down the road. No more. I shall divide the story of my childhood into two parts: the early years from 1998 to 2009 (parents’ divorce), and 2009 to 2015 (when I had an epiphany and began...
Alice – I spent my teenage years proving to him that I am worth loving
This was the day when my world fell apart. I was only 7 years old. It was early summer. My father was away for 2 weeks with his band and I was waiting for him to come home. My 10 year old cousin was over at our house that day. I remember my father approaching so we...
Joshua Hewitt – Some say that the transgender woman who was my Dad will always be my father. There is no truth in this for me
Twenty one years ago I lost my father. The hardest part of losing him is that he didn’t die. One day he walked out the door and never returned. Sometimes I allow myself to imagine how much easier it would have been if he had have died. My grief would have welled to...
Kathryn Francisco – It’s okay to believe that the method of your conception was wrong and still give thanks for your life
It’s such a vivid memory. One day, when I was about fourteen, I was riding in the car with my dad, and we were talking about ancestry. I was very curious about my roots. When I asked him what percentage Cherokee we were, he gave an odd response. I said, “If you’re...
Rashell – I can say with 100% certainty that my life would have been so much easier had my parents just stuck it out
My parents were young when they married. They were both 17. My mother was still in high school and pregnant. She graduated but my dad didn't. He worked in the oilfield in Oklahoma and made great money when times were good. I was their only child. I'm 41 years old now...
Caressa Fennell – My earliest memory is the day my mother committed suicide
My earliest memory is the day my mother committed suicide. That was the day the first crack appeared in my perfect, 3 year-old-life – the first crack of many that would break my heart and leave me broken, but not crushed, for a while. My story begins long before I was...
Moira Greyland – I was born into a family of famous gay pagan authors in the late Sixties
I was born into a family of famous gay pagan authors in the late Sixties. My mother was Marion Zimmer Bradley, and my father was Walter Breen. Between them, they wrote over 100 books: my mother wrote science fiction and fantasy (Mists of Avalon), and my father wrote...
Vladimir – There are times when I still struggle with depression, anxiety, and self-hatred. There are also times when I wonder if I have any capacity to love
My father has been married five times. My mother was his second wife. According to my father, I am responsible for the destruction of his third and fourth marriages because “I had not accepted the death of my mother.” I only have one memory of my birth mother. For...
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