“My wife and son would come home and tip toe around me as my anger would rear its ugly head. Unbeknownst to me, my wife was scared to be out of the house for too long as that caused my anger to rise as well. ‘What the f*ck were you doing? You know I am f*cked up and can’t ‘babysit’ our son!,’ I would shout.”
‘I began pushing my wife away as harshly as I could, yet she stuck around. Why? Why won’t she just leave? We are all miserable and it’s because of me. Doesn’t she see that?’
‘They told me, ‘She’s shy.’ Out of curiosity, I asked them about her face. They told me it was a birthmark, and that she gets picked on about it a lot.’
“After their ride I walked them back over to their grandparent’s car. I said to the little girl, ‘How come you didn’t want to go for a ride?’ She said, ‘Well, the boys always say that stuff is just for boys, not for girls.'”
‘I felt something hit me from behind, specifically the right side of my butt. A group of guys were walking behind me. They snickered. I heard someone say, ‘Do it again.”
“I was wearing a long, velvet skirt – I could feel it all – and the heat of his hand.”
‘When I got there I saw the saddest bracelet on my grandma’s fragile, bruised wrist. A purple band that said ‘DNR/DNI.’ I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The tears were now streaming.’
“I knew this was bad, I felt like that same 15-year-old girl having to make the decision whether or not to let my mom live.”
‘I asked my 95-year-old grandfather to dance with me. I have never seen him smile so big in my life. I wanted to live in this moment forever.’
“When my grandfather saw my tears, he asked me why I was crying.”
‘She is 5, her curls draped around her cheeks. As she straightens her crown, she finds the reflection of her gray hair and sad eyes staring back at her. She is dressing for her fourth funeral this year.’
“Looking at her reflection she is forced to blink to see clearly. Her gray hair is set in curlers. She is thinking about all the friends and family she has outlived. She considers bending down to fix her knee-high stocking, but instead, sighs deeply.
‘I took hostages everywhere I went, and the first one was my grandmother. Loving, kind, and elderly made her the perfect target for my addiction.’
“She gave me a car, a phone, and a bed to sleep in. In return I gave her lies, sleepless nights, and stole everything I possibly could.”
‘I take my grandma to dialysis 3 times a week, so my kids and I hang out with grandpa while we wait for her.’
“Even though she’s 3 and he’s 90, they still have a lot to talk about!”
‘I’ve been in jail, been beat up, raped and left for dead, and it still didn’t stop me.’ Grandmother admits her grandkids were the only thing to give her ‘hope’ for recovery
“I was going to end up with life in prison or in the grave. Now I have 2 little sets of eyes watching me and looking up to me, and that gave me reason to want to live.”
‘He passed away on Friday. The work was done.’ Grandfather refuses to let himself die until the chores were done on his farm
“He didn’t know who we were at times. He didn’t know where he was. He couldn’t do anything independently. But he knew he had things to do. The lawnmower blade needed sharpening, the hay needed to be bailed. He had work to do.”
