• April Fool

    I always hated April Fool’s Day and had since I was in elementary school.  My mother scared easily so the two of us tried to avoid having anything to do with April 1 when it rolled around.  My father and brother were obsessed with scaring everyone so naturally, my mother and I were their favorite subjects. …

  • Anxiety

    Anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks  Like I was drowning in worry  Nothing I could do was right  Nothing I said was helpful  Nothing I did was useful.  Days sometimes raced by  While sometimes they dragged  I could never decide which felt better  Until the day I started feeling better  The day I…

  • Shadow

    As an adult, I would say I definitely worry about missing out on everything my friends are doing.  Even if I really just want to stay home and go to bed, how can I not go to the party?   What if something happens and they talk about it for weeks?  What if I miss out on the inside…

  • Welcome

    The welcome sign greeted me.  Confused me.  Haunted me.  Affected me.  I was not wanted.  Not cheered.  Not helped.  I was alive.  I will live.  I will survive.  I will rise. 

  • Purple Sage

    “Purple sage?”  My cousin stared at me blankly.  “That’s what the note said?  Is it supposed to be some sort of code?”  “I have no idea,” I said shrugging.  “If it wasn’t some sort of code, what would it mean?”  Justin and I were pouring over our grandparents’ old books and diaries of their life…

  • Life

    I knew about the ups and downs  I expected them  What I wasn’t prepared for  Was you.  I didn’t know I was waiting for you  Until I saw you.  Your smile Your eyes  The way you made me feel  Made everyone feel  Now you’re gone  And I am over. 

  • Woodland Creatures

    When I told my sister about the conversation I had with the fox, I could tell she was jealous.  She didn’t want to admit yet that I could talk to the foxes before she did, but here we are.  We had started school a few weeks before and had a new headmaster and he was…

  • Singing Stones

    The singing stones greeted me like an old friend  I looked for them every day  As I knew they looked for me  Their steadiness soothed me  Helped me  Calmed me  Every time I heard the   Singing stones  I was fortified  My strength returned  My eyes opened  I was home 

  • First Impressions

    I loved going to the beach every year.  I loved the beach from the very first time my toes sank in the sand.  Every weekend I begged my mom to take my brother and I to the beach since it was only a short fifteen-minute drive away.  She was a freelance writer who often whisked away for stories and interviews, but was able to schedule…

  • Shining

    The water was calling my name.  Brilliant, vast and scary  It called and I screamed  Water knew my name, but  I just wanted to forget  our relationship.  Forget we ever met.  But I was blinded  By ambition  By mercy  By fear.