No more school. No more books. Kids are home with cheery looks. I feel sick, I’ve done my best. This time of year, I do detest Summer’s here time for fun. “Hey Mom, where’s my water gun!” Vacation days, heat waves, Air conditioner on all day Bills run high, tempers fly. School come back take ...

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” -Carl Jung- The wind nipped at their faces despite the hoods of their thick wool cloaks. The wooded area at the base of the mountain did little to ease their struggle against the elements. Dusk crept upon them as ...

In a previous article, Life Doesn’t Just Have to Happen, I discussed how we should be living the life we want instead of allowing life to happen to us. I mentioned changing your mindset, but I didn’t explain what that meant.  Choosing to change your mindset is difficult at first. It takes a conscious effort ...

The bell rung unleashing three hundred frenzied students into the corridors. They trashed their lockers, threw papers in the air, and stampeded out of the high school for their three months of freedom — time for family vacations, summer work, camping with friends, and parties. But for three fifteen-year-old girls, it is experiment time. Eve ...

Hallow Bay remained the last bar in town that still allowed smoking inside. The air thick with smoke from the old chimneys that never leave. The salty dogs, they smelled of body odor soaked in whiskey and beer, except for the old bar crone, Sweetie. She smelled of cigarettes and cheap perfume from 1967. “Hey, ...

In 2012, shock took over when we heard the news of a gunman killing children while they were in school. Then again in 2016, we mourned after hearing of the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub. In 2017 in Las Vegas, and yet again, in 2018 in Florida. There have been shootings in between these, but ...

Imagine a Tuesday morning without a phone to answer, without multitudes of work piled on your desk. Instead, you sit in your assigned seat in between a friend and stranger listening to the pilot announce it’s time to cut off all devices. It’s lunchtime on Thursday and instead of checking your watch every seven minutes ...

As I stroll by the lake, I take in my surroundings. The sun’s rays reach out and touch all of Mother Earth, white clouds float under the blue sky, and the branches of the trees sprout buds. Bees feed off the first dandelions and the March bloom flowers. Birds sing their welcome to the first ...

I walked the hallways of my new school, Hillcrest High. This was my second high school. It should be my last. Dad promised that we would stay for three years. Three years would get me through high school and my first year in college if that promise held up. I wasn’t holding my breath. The ...

The necklace you gave me became a choker. I could no longer breathe with it there. I had to remove it. I could not see the brightness in the stars or sense the air in my lungs. It was time to remove the necklace – to remove you. Everything you gave me has the feeling ...