Dear Santa, Thank you for giving people something to believe in. The excitement, the joy, the magic that people experience year after year is magnificent and memorable. So, Santa, I decided to ask several family members to share a Christmas memory or two and was delighted by their responses. I hope you enjoy them as ...

I sit on my bed, shirtless and sweating and trying to ignore the pain that floods my legs. Grey smoke curls from my cigarette as I inhale its contents. It burns to ash and scorches my throat. The orange glow that pervades with each inward breath pierces the darkest folds of the night. I’m wide ...

Recently, my husband and I took the upperclassmen from our small private school on a college trip. We traveled twelve hours (one way) from our rural community to Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin.  In preparation for this event, the school rented a Ford Transit for us to take. No one said anything, but I ...

Life doesn’t hand happiness in abundance scared we will want nothing but the euphoric feeling of satisfaction when there’s plethora of feelings to experience. Those feelings which make happiness much more blissful. Life a series of fleeting moments of happiness interrupting usual sludge called life. Our choices cement us within our own imposing personal prisons. ...

There was an assortment of watches on both her wrists. Digital, analog, leather straps, gold straps, and some made of pure silver. Each watch told a different time in a different place, and she admired them, treasured them like one would treasure their own life. She lived in a hall of her own making. A ...

Aubree peered out the window and stared at the leaves as they danced in the wind. A robust breeze collected several fallen ones from a small pile situated under a tree. They swirled upward into the air with ease. After a short flight, they made their way back toward the ground, swaying from side-to-side as ...

When you burnout at work, you start to feel diminished. Like a part of yourself has gone into hiding and it doesn’t want to come out. Challenges that were manageable and small, start to feel like large nightmares from hell. It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from engagement. The engaged person is energized, involved, ...

It had been a long night. I knew this day would come; there was no preparation for it. As we all stood around the hospital bed, holding hands, I saw a puff of smoke above me. I looked around at our family and friends. Their eyes closed. Was it inappropriate to shout out, “Hey, look ...

Foliage drained of glucose And chlorophyll has run its course Blazing sunshine lights the hues chill in the air chases us indoors. Bright earth tones fade, days grow short the blue skies hark the approaching Harvest moon. October’s fading colors, harbingers of winter’s encroaching. Refusal to face the wintry ice, like living in a state ...

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four Trigger warning: graphic sexual content and violence Morning light trickled through leaves and dispersed what was left of the night. Wierna and her guards crouched low, spying on a clearing just ahead of them. Large bushes concealed them from sight. Bandits camped here, their fires low and ...