• Two Versions, One Spirit

    Do you think it’s weird to feel like you haven’t really changed since you were a child? I’m not talking about maturity or life experience. I’m talking about your core personality. Honestly, I still feel like the same person I was as a kid. I’m still questioning everything and everyone. I still find the silliest…


  • A Requiem for Soul Survivors

    The term soul survivor is often used to describe the last person left alive after a catastrophic event. But there is another kind of soul survivor—one rarely acknowledged. They are the people who become the last living member of their childhood family. The final witness to the laughter, the arguments, the holidays, the whispered secrets,…


  • Sole Survivor

    Six years next month. Six quiet, thunderous years of carrying a title no one applies for. A sole survivor is the last remaining member of their immediate family—the final branch on a once-leafy tree. My mother gave birth to three children. I am the only one left. No siblings to call and say, “Do you…


  • Black Walnut Ice Cream

    The weirdest things can unlock childhood memories. Yesterday, a friend mentioned how his mother used to eat black walnut ice cream, and suddenly a whole flood of memories came rushing back to me—uninvited, vivid, and sweet in that bittersweet way only the past knows how to be. Memory is funny like that. It doesn’t knock.…


  • Scrambled Eggs, Lightly Dusted

    I’ve been watching MeTv Toons for over a year and whenever I hear the familiar voices of Magilla Gorilla, Woody Woodpecker, and so many others, I’m taken aback to living at 7246 South University back in the seventies. I am a little girl again. It’s Saturday morning and I’m nagging my mother to make me…


  • In Memoriam: Francine Pascal

    Today I learned that one of my favorite authors in the world died. Her name was Francine Pascal and she created The Sweet Valley High book series in 1983 which revolutionized the book industry. After her series was published, a whole new genre was established and it was so many book series for teenage girls…


  • Finding Joy

    There are many unhappy people in this country which is ironic considering that the pursuit of happiness is written in the Constitution. They are unhappy with their economic status, their relationship status. Just mad at everything and everyone and although I understand because at times, I’m mad as hell too but it’s not healthy to…


  • A Rough Season

    This summer was supposed to have been a great one but unfortunately, I lost two childhood friends that I loved like sisters in two months. Most people lose contact with their childhood friends as they get older but I have been fortunate that I’m still in contact with the majority. I spent my teens, 20s,…