He sat up with wide eyes, confused and a little shaken. I wasn’t trying to scare him, just shake him out of that smug little bubble he’d built around himself lately. Things hadn’t always been like this. When he was younger, he used to run into my arms at school pickup
He once made a macaroni necklace for me in second grade and insisted I wear it to the grocery store. But somewhere around middle school, that child vanished. Now he barely looked up from his phone, only spoke in grunts,
and walked ten feet ahead of us in public like he was embarrassed to be seen with “old people.” I could handle the silence, but the eye rolls, sarcastic jabs, and cold stares? That stung. It all came to a head at the school fundraiser last Friday. We had volunteered to help out, ust like… CONTINUE READING »
My husband, Alan, was working the grill, and I was managing the raffle table. We’d spent our Friday evening—after working full-time jobs—just to be there for him. He walked past us with two of his friends, didn’t even glance our way. When one of them asked, “Aren’t those your parents?” he shrugged and said, “I… CONTINUE READING »
“I refuse to pay fifty thousand dollars for your cruise, Lilia.” The words left my mouth quietly, but they might as well have been a bomb exploding in my son David’s living room. I watched as my daughter-in-law’s perfectly made-up face twisted into something ugly, her manicured fingers gripping the glossy brochure so tightly it… CONTINUE READING »
That’s when it happened. The sound of her palm connecting with my cheek echoed through the room like a gunshot. The sting was immediate, radiating across my face. I touched my cheek, the skin already hot. “Then find somewhere else to live!” she screamed, her composed mask finally shattering. “I’m tired of supporting a selfish… CONTINUE READING »
The betrayal hit harder than the slap. I had raised David alone after his father abandoned us. I’d worked double shifts at a diner, sacrificing everything for him. The house they were standing in? I’d given them twenty thousand dollars from my own savings for the down payment. “I’ve been paying rent here for two… CONTINUE READING »
“Then why do you need my fifty thousand dollars for a cruise?” David finally looked at me, his eyes cold with a resentment I’d never seen before. “Because we deserve it, Mom. We work hard. We’ve earned a luxury vacation.” “With my money?” I asked. “Money you’re just hoarding anyway!” Lilia snapped. “What are you… CONTINUE READING »
I stood on shaky legs, gathering my purse. “I’ll pack my things.” “Good,” Lilia said, settling onto the couch with a satisfied smirk. As I walked toward the stairs, David’s voice stopped me. “Mom, wait.” A flicker of hope ignited in my chest. “That fifty thousand, plus whatever else you’ve got saved… I’m going to… CONTINUE READING »
It’s true that there are positive uses for the internet. Consider the case of Kelli Tarin. She went to Facebook for assistance after discovering what might be a pest problem. Thousands of comments were left for the mother of three, expressing everything from a desire to offer assistance to a simple want to be informed… CONTINUE READING »