Category: Stories

Three months ago, my parents died in a house fire. I woke up that night with heat crackling against my skin and smoke everywhere. I crawled to my bedroom door, pressing my…

I work as an administrative assistant at a tiny insurance office — the kind of place where people forget your name but remember when you didn’t refill the printer paper. Every day…

My plans were simple for Thanksgiving. A lovely, home-prepped dinner and time spent as a family. Just us four. No need to pick anyone up from the airport, no extended family who…

The whole thing started three weeks ago when my brother’s wife, Jessica, came bouncing into our lives with her latest grand plan. She’d found this “absolutely perfect” lake house in Asheville for…

Have you ever had one of those moments where you finally hit your breaking point? That was me when my husband demanded another baby as if I didn’t already have my hands…

I’m a single dad to the most precious seven-year-old girl, and, like most single parents, this is not the way I expected my life to turn out. Emma’s mom left when she…

I’m not the kind of person who puts much stock in instant karma. I’m more of a wait-it-out-and-let-life-sort-it-out kind of woman. But what happened this past fall shook that belief to the…

My name’s Emily. I’m 34, and I’ve been married to Ethan, who’s 36, for five years. We’ve been together for a total of eight years, and if there’s one thing I know…

I wasn’t always a painter. I was an electrician for 30 years. I dealt with wires and breakers and everything else that came with the job, including difficult customers. Built a good…

I never thought I’d be that guy. You know the one standing in his own living room, world crumbling, wondering how he missed all the signs that were probably there the whole…