Angela’s Story: As I reflect on my early life, I see how growing up without a mom and then with a Disney-esque stepmom shaped me. It may sound melodramatic, but I don’t really like recounting my childhood. It feels like opening the door to a foreboding...
Melissa’s Story: An open tab on the laptop exposed his secret: visual images of topless women, each in stark contrast to my body style. The floor beneath me quaked. The gentle, kind, giving husband who normally guarded my heart …crushed it. I did not question...
Heidi’s Story: I harbored and nurtured so much bitterness toward my father as I grew up that I preferred the term “the patriarch.” Justified by events of my childhood, I felt I earned the right to hold him in disdain. He netted a living as a lawyer, so...
Emily’s Story: Out of college, I had a great job. I loved my life, and I didn’t think I could love God more than I did. One weekend, I went to the mountains with friends. On the last night, we had a snowball fight and I fell backwards into the powdered snow. It...
Wendy’s Story: I never knew what to call my mother-in-law. Mom was out of the question; “Marge” reminded me of The Simpsons; and Margery was reserved for my father-in-law. I used to wait to naturally break into a conversation or catch her eye so I could start...
Sofia’s Story: My positive attitude told me my divorce process would be nothing unusual. Even though I felt pain and grief over the loss of my marriage, I reasoned we are adults. We recognize our relationship is not able to survive. My thinking changed when a...
