I, on the other hand, was stubborn and lacked religious devotion, putting a gulf between me and my parents where I never felt as close...

My grandma remembers coming over and noticing how pale and sickly I looked as a baby. She would ask my mom, “Aren’t you going to feed her...

My dad worked at IBM as a programmer and was a protective, caring, and loving man. My mom was a professional pianist and the choir...

Growing up I was as happy as a child should be. We lived in this huge empty neighborhood with only a few houses, so we had a lot of room...

I grew up with a warped understanding of love and received little attention from my parents. I searched for affection all my life, but...

As the youngest and only girl in my family, I was spoiled a lot and had tons of fun when I was little. I remember coming down the stairs...

Let me take you back to when I was just six years old. My chronic asthma was a plague against my childhood, as I was in the hospital more...

I stood outside in the two-acre backyard of my new home in Hesperia, California. The High Desert became the new place I would call home...

I’ve lived a life of self-reliance and I believe that there are times in which this is our only choice. But if you have the chance...

Dad was in the Airforce, and we got posted to Hobsonville Airforce Auckland in 1973. Growing up in the Airforce community was fun...

In my early 20s, I lost a big part of myself. The person who I used to be was being smothered by grief and guilt. The things I once...

I grew up thinking I was disposable. Throughout my childhood, I was passed around to several houses until my mother decided to take me...

If I were to give advice to the little girl that never stood up to anyone and felt alone much of her life, I would tell her that it’s...

People look at me and think they see a girl that has it all together. I rent a condo on my own, I have a loving boyfriend, and...

It seemed that loss followed me wherever I went. Life kept throwing me curve-balls, but I tried not to stay down for long. I learned that...

But thoughts of death don’t just go away. They linger like the plague. They interject themselves at every turn and persuade you that life...