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I am Appalachian!
I am the Cherokee, the Wataugans, the Scots Irish, the South African and so many more that are as much a part of me as the Mountains themselves. I can be traced back to Spanish Kings and German Queens, but the Appalachians is where I was born. In the dark Coal mines as small boys carried out the Coal their fathers have dug out of the mountains, the father can only look on because it was necessary to survive, always keeping the pain inside so he can keep going. Because knowing that his son, grandson and many generations forward would have a better life than his, this is what keeps him alive. My family and friends who were ripped away from me by the soldiers, to be taken to a strange place they call Oklahoma; I lost them all on the trail of tears. I wore Blue and my Brother wore Gray damn that war. Potbelly stoves, the cinders left behind and the smell of burning coal. The wetness of the fog as I breathe in the Mountain air in the early morning. Squirrel and Ginseng Hunting high up on the Mountain Ridge, on a rainy day I can smell the wet fur of the deer as they approach and wild turkey cannot hear me walking on the wet leaves. Hunting is not my sport; it is a way of life and a way to feed my family.
By Mark S. Collins4 years ago in Families
Heart and Home
It wasn't until I got older and had grown in wisdom that I came to know what 'home' really meant for me. Growing up my parents set out to provide a place that was filled with love, protection and stability. I always thought that home meant the place you grew up in, the house you get dropped off by your friend's mom after a play date. The one you run back to after playing for hours and hours after school. I thought it was like what you see in the movies. Your childhood home that you come back to visit as an adult. A place your parents find and call their forever home, the one you have all your firsts in, the one you do all your growing up and learning in. The one you drive away from as you set off for college and spread your wings only to come back to on holiday breaks. But that fairy tale of a home wasn't anything I would see or know. It never is like the movies portray it to be. Maybe for some but for me it came in the form of the safety and serenity my siblings and I created for ourselves.
By Talisha Reupena 4 years ago in Families
FATHERS AND SINS
It is official. My dad turned 100 years old. He is a centenarian, and I am rightly pissed about his big accomplishment. OMG! All the years of his harping about living a good clean life have, at last, put me into my place. Should I despise the old dude? I guess there is a fair amount of anger riding my back where dad is concerned. I must admit to it for the sake of my mental health. I am jealous and positively green with envy. “Father Knows Best”, for gosh sakes!
By Ibraahiym Kadessh4 years ago in Families
What do you do?
I love my job because it is a unique, one-of-a-kind type of job. A job no other person can possibly have. Don’t get me wrong, there are in fact millions of people who do this job, but no other person can possibly do it as I do. Not in a boasting and bragging way either. Simply put, the role of Motherhood is something only understood by the individual. For it is true there are no two like people in the world, we are all unique, individuals. Therefore, my experience of motherhood will be like no one else, because my precious boy can only be fully understood from my eyes, angle, and perception, as his mother.
By Len Lei4 years ago in Families
Blood doesn't make a family
"Blood is thicker than water." We've all more or less heard a variation of that saying at least once in our lives. It's said to convey the belief in thinking how family bonds will always be stronger than anything else. You don't choose your family, so family is special, untouchable, and above all.
By Noah Madrigal4 years ago in Families
Home in the Sky
Open doors and climbing steps, were nothing less than my day to day. Inside a magic castle that became a cave and also a chapel. Where I learned to skate on soapy floors, to hide on moldy clothes, to climb those leaning columns of a house stacked on an angle, to swing from trees and ropes, and build with two more foes. All that which led me here away from all those limbs who helped me walk and helped me think.
By Camila Carsolio4 years ago in Families
D1V1NiTY'S WAY
D1v1nitys ways Generational Curses is one of the main reasons we don’t go for what we want in this world. We tend to stay in the energy in which seems comfortable, allowing it to aid the futures we create. Fear of what we do not know seems to stem the emotions from our past. No longer moving forward and sitting in places we are afraid to leave. I feel the way our parents and generations before us molded this world has created so much chaos; causing the mindsets of millions to walk the dimension of earth as vampires and zombies. Stress, anxiety, depression, hate, anger, addictions, etc.… all lead to a quicker death or result in death. Love has been explained in so many perspectives that we only truly know what it is, when it’s expressed through self-first then outwards. Coming into my realization of what Love was and how it can possibly be reciprocated back, started on my self-love journey of Healing Thy Self.
By Melanie D1V1NiTY Montgomery4 years ago in Families
Best Job In The World
I love my job because it is the most rewarding job in the world: being a parent. I also work as a nonprofit accountant, working for organizations whose mission it is to help others, but as rewarding as that job is, it is in no way a comparison to being a mother and Mimi. Motherhood was not in my original plans growing up. I had been told at sixteen that it was highly unlikely that I would even be able to have or carry children of my own. But at 21 I was shocked to find that I was pregnant with my first son.
By S Baumann4 years ago in Families
I Won't Grow Up!
Of all of the jobs that have affected me the most and helped (I hope) to make a positive impact on the world is babysitting. There is a lot more in depth to the job than the name implies…mostly the children being cared for aren’t babies and we, the caregivers, are providing more than simply ‘sitting’ with them. This alone suggests that the children are pretty much left to their own devises for care, food, exercise, and cognitive skills while we, the ‘sitters’, are only there to keep an eye out for them and so the parent(s) can say to themselves, ‘the children are not alone, so everything is fine.’ Wrong!
By Merrie Jackson4 years ago in Families
The One Where Monique Has "Fun"
Today my horse and I had a training session with one of our favourite humans: Katie, from Equestrian Movement. We have been trying to build Comanche’s confidence through sparking his curiosity. Part of this process is learning about what he enjoys doing and spending time “playing” together. Here’s the thing though: I am not good at having “fun.” Don’t get me wrong, I like fun. As an actor I get paid to play make-believe all day; but nobody would ever describe me as loose.
By Monique Molnar5 years ago in Families
The Days Are Long
My alarm goes off at 7 a.m., but my daughter has been awake for an hour. She's an early riser. I'm a night owl. She's learned to turn on the television and command the Fire TV to start playing Peppa Pig as I go downstairs to make her breakfast and lunch. Simultaneously, I do the dishes and check on the cats.
By Shannon Moose5 years ago in Families
How to love your Parents.
We all are guilty of not paying enough attention to our birth givers. We tend to get lost in our lives, with questions like how do I earn more? or get a girlfriend/boyfriend? or get over my break-up? We question ourselves often that Are we pretty enough? Do people love me? If I die will anyone miss me? Well, I don’t know about the world but our parents will always love us no matter what, give us more than we ask for, think we are the prettiest person ever and do almost everything to protect us from the dangers of life.
By Nikita Dhumal5 years ago in Families