You are measured not by how you love, but by how others love you...that's why it hurts. Wait, is that right? Have I got that backwards? Your worth is measured not by how others love you, but by how you

Why didn't she tell me. The feeling gnawed at the pit of my stomach. This woman called me about her ovarian cyst, her half drunk mother-in-law on the tubing outing, but now when the most devastating news

It was the last of summer. The bees seemed desperate making a last effort to collecting nectar. The hummingbirds, far wiser had long abandoned the fluted gems in the garden. Marla pulled the white cotton

A friend said the hottest thing about her was that she could make macaroni and cheese without a recipe. I wondered if it was any good. After all, there is a vast difference between good mac and bad. There

"Your nose itches." "No it doesn't." "Yes it does, I can see it." "How can you see it? ...leave me alone." Lucy let her pigtails bounce as she stormed away from

"It's time you learned your lesson. No one is out there and you are never going to leave this room." That's what it sounded like to Wilma, that no one understood that she loved Trap and the curtain

The day had finally arrived. Colton was ten and there was nothing anyone could do about it. All afternoon he sat with his nose pressed up against the screen. His father was late as usual. Colton thought

It was as if he didn't exist. The palm size spider laid across the rock invisible to the unsuspecting eye. Blending in caused no small yelp when the toddler's foot slipped across the surface and caused

Mercy snapped the leafy green twig in her hand and put it to her nose. The spicy small made her mouth water. The promise of sassafras tea pulled her from her slumber. She put the small pan on the front

"If you had half a brain you'd be dangerous!" His blown out cheeks were aimed at the frail looking child cowering beneath him. It was hardly his fault that Blaze was as dumb as he looked. He

The spiral steps narrowed on the decent. Caroline felt the stone pressing in all around her. She slowed her breathing purposefully. It was on the list, so with each step down the cave entrance, she was

Ah, no...

Rooster had to be dealt with. It was awful ugly, but it fell to me to know what was good for the community. He made it through the ten steps. I had high hopes for him. He looked good when he strutted in,

Ten more steps, that's all it would take. Carly latched the clasp on her leather bag. She tugged at the pencil skirt and let her chin drop to her chest to make sure her black stilettos were gleaming. She

Sitting under the barely flowering rosebush she was shocked when the women mentioned her name. "Karen is harm." Karen barely knew what that meant. When she repeated it to her mother she couldn't

Children shouldn't know what it's like to have a broken heart, but sometimes they do... "G-dad, can I come to your house?" The question unraveled him. His long legs hung over the bed. It seemed

Joan couldn't do what every other child her age could do, but she was going to give it her best effort. All of the other seven year-olds loomed beside her. Although they were much bigger they looked just

With a nearly thirty percent decline in the current rate of birth the future of our progeny is in flux. With women deciding not to do the mommy thing and more fathers taking on the responsibility for seeing

"I had a reason..." "What? What could it possibly be?" She pulled her hand away. "Please, help me to understand." Thomas didn't reach for her. He didn't say a word. How could

"It's a masterpiece!" "Pretty to look at, but you'll never eat all that." It was one of the many ways Jolene underestimated her daughter. Margaret was determined to prove her wrong.