I wanted to call my daughter and tell her that Red Dye #40 and other food dyes that have been banned: “West Virginia has outlawed foods that contain some artificial dyes or other additives…” I wanted to at least text her over my excitement, even though it took over 30 years for…
Family
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Ouch!
One of the most painful things I’ve had to endure in my life is hearing my children speak the words verbatim that I heard from my husband for many years. My daughter Ashley told me to stop being a victim and also to just get over it, that my childhood…
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Ashley Baby
I settled into motherhood and enjoyed taking my new daughter everywhere. Family and friends were regulars in the house, it was a booming time. I would take her to parks, zoos, museums, play dates, fun excursions regularly. By the time she was 5 she had more friends than I had…
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Mom is Mom
When my first child was born my mother told me not to expect her to be a babysitting grandmother. I never asked. Years went by and she asked in tears why I never asked her to babysit. It was frustrating and made me crazy. In the end, she had dementia…
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I WAS the Mistake!
Later in life I became fully aware of what my father meant about the forces against him. I read my mother’s divorce agreement when I was 9 and again after my mother died. According to her words he was the worst person in the world. He forced himself on her…
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My Mother The Narcissist
My mother was everything I would not become. I was convinced I would have a close relationship with my children, I would treat them with respect as a person, and never say, “because I said so” without a rationale. I vowed to help them be social and learn from the…
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Married into Family
I was stuck on gaining a large family and Peter’s “potential” to be a good man. He had many good qualities, lots of friends, good looking, charismatic, and a big family. He was into some hippie things also – E.S.T., Macrobiotics, Primal Scream (although only vicariously through his best friend),…
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Cous’ Steve
Seven years ago I was hanging with my cousin-buddies and it quickly turned into early morning. Quite often they hosted karaoke parties in a pine plank finished loft over the barn. Cousin was a geek and had a full band-jam setup with a drum kit, keyboard, guitars, multiple microphones on…
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Cousins
When I moved to Massachusetts I met my family of ten cousins, aunt, uncle, second and third cousins, plus a few adopted ex-cons and young pregnant girls my aunt saved. Every Christmas they rented a community house to fit the 60+ people and growing. Growing is an understatement as many…
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Mom
Most people remember bits and pieces of their childhood but never really dig deep. Like hypnosis deep. I’ve been digging for decades and still uncover major details. One thing leads to another like unearthing a sappy mystery. It started a few years ago when I was thought I might have…