Another Day

By Joseph J. Mazzella on February 07, 2020 / 3,862 views

It was a cold, Winter morning. I hadn’t slept very well the night before so I was trying to catch a few extra winks before I got up. The rising sun had other ideas, however. A beam of it snuck through my drawn curtains and started poking my eyelids until they wearily opened. I groaned and sat up on the side of the bed. I put my feet on the floor careful not to step on my gassy, old, snoring beagle who...

This Is Not Our Cat

By A Friend on February 03, 2020 / 4,278 views

By A Friend on February 03, 2020 / 4,278 views

This is not our cat. We installed a cat door in our shed. Our new neighbors rarely let their cat in even when it is freezing cold outside. We've spoken to them twice, nicely, and they are not concerned. So we are helping our cat bro out by giving him access to our...

A Deer In The Road

By Joseph J. Mazzella on February 02, 2020 / 4,333 views

By Joseph J. Mazzella on February 02, 2020 / 4,333 views

I live in the mountains of West Virginia. The curvy, winding roads and the vast woodlands often lead to near misses with the local deer. The other day I was driving my son to work at the sheltered workshop when we saw a deer in the road that hadn’t been so lucky. The driver in front of me suddenly swerved to avoid hitting the corpse and I quickly followed him jerking the steering wheel to get back in the...

Turkeys Get Funky

By Lorelei on January 29, 2020 / 2,599 views

We were blasting music on our Amazon Echo when a family of turkeys came out of the woods and started dancing. "Look! Look!" my sister shrieked, pointing out the window. And sure enough, the turkeys had started jumping and stomping and occasionally squawking along with the music. I guess turkeys like the song...

Life Can Wait

By Richard Dean on January 29, 2020 / 3,888 views

I just found our 5 year old sitting on a chair in our garage. The door was open and he was sitting, staring at the pounding rain outside. So now I am too. Life can wait. I'm watching the rain with my...

I Always Say I Love You...

By A Friend on January 25, 2020 / 2,781 views

...to my son, to my cat, and then to myself. When we are all laying in bed, I'll look at my son and tell him I love him. Then I'll look at the cat and figure I should tell her I love her too. Then I think that I am also in the room, and I would love to hear that I love myself too. Every time, it feels simple and accepting. And it's probably a great example for my...

What You Pass On

By Joseph J. Mazzella on January 22, 2020 / 4,329 views

I was lying on my back this morning doing a few light exercises hoping to coax a little more energy into my aging body to face another day. As I was doing them, however, my eyes and mind started to wander. I looked up at an old picture of me and my children back when they were only three, six, and eight years old. It must have been taken almost 25 years ago, yet it still seemed like yesterday. I noticed...

Fell In Love With My Husband Again Today

By A Friend on January 22, 2020 / 3,187 views

We both had jury duty at the same court house but on different floors. My floor had the room where you first report and where you get your paperwork after being excused. I was sitting in the hallway waiting around and looking at my phone when the elevator opened and a bunch of excused jurors got off. I looked up, absentmindedly glancing at random faces, when I saw my husband. He stepped out of the...

Do You Know Why?

By Kay Heitsch on January 16, 2020 / 3,272 views

I can not tell you the shock I felt when my husband Bill told me he was thinking about driving an 18 wheeler across the country. For all of our married life, Bill had worn a suit or a sport coat with a shirt and tie to work. Bill even had training in the Twin Towers in New York City. My first response to this truck driving excursion was, "You don't even know how to drive a truck!"...

Happy Early Birthday

By A Friend on January 16, 2020 / 3,568 views

By A Friend on January 16, 2020 / 3,568 views

I was at Trader Joe’s buying wine and cookies, the cashier ID’s me and sees it’s my birthday tomorrow. He disappears suddenly and comes back with these, says "Happy early birthday." Probably the most unexpected, sweetest thing someone’s done for...

Lucky Me!

By Zoe on January 15, 2020 / 4,023 views

In fifth grade, my backpack was stolen from my dad's car. It had my binder with all my school stuff in it and a few other personal valuables. it had notebooks with stories in them I have been working on for quite a while. One morning my dad came and woke me up to tell me that his car was broken into and my backpack was stolen. I was heartbroken. I cried for about an hour. My dad...

I've Been Waiting For You

By Kay Heitsch on January 15, 2020 / 3,855 views

If you're like me, most of your days are uneventful. I never expected when I went to South Broadway Nursing Home, for my weekly visit, that this night would be any different. Boy, was I wrong! I walked into the nursing home that evening at 7:00. As always, I had my basket full of candy for the residents and the staff. Each evening I would start by leaving my coat and purse in Bertha's room....

Santa Hats

By A Friend on January 14, 2020 / 2,773 views

By A Friend on January 14, 2020 / 2,773 views

I saw this guy at Wal-Mart buying ALL of their remaining Santa hats, when I asked what he was buying them for he said "I do this every year after Christmas and donate them to children's hospitals for next...

Special Needs

By Joseph J. Mazzella on January 08, 2020 / 3,458 views

My two sons are all grown up now. They are 32 and 27 years old this year. Yet they both still have the minds of children. Autism has limited their intellectual growth over the years and they still need to be looked after 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When I was a boy the term used for people like my sons was Mentally Retarded. By the time I was an adult the term had switched to Mentally Handicapped. Later...

My Dad Just Sent Me $10,000

By A Friend on January 03, 2020 / 3,622 views

Growing up I’ve always been very independent. I’ve never asked for my parents for money or help, and I’ve always lived a pretty secluded life from them. We’re close, but not in a “I’m going to tell you every detail of my life” way. A little back ground: I moved out at 17, went to university, and dropped out in my third year. I married my long term boyfriend,...

Flabby

By Kay Heitsch on January 03, 2020 / 3,227 views

My husband Bill's Grandma Z was quite a character. Over the years we grew very close and I was actually with her when she died. In Grandma Z's later years she lived in a nursing home. Her eyesight was almost gone and she spent most of her day in a wheelchair. For the most part, her mind was sharp until the end of her life at age 101. We lived out of state for several years and...

Walking Through Life

By Joseph J. Mazzella on December 31, 2019 / 4,401 views

It was a day in late December. The Christmas tree had been taken down. The lights and decorations had been boxed up and put in the closet until next year. And I was feeling a little blue. I sure wasn’t looking forward to the long, cold, dark Winter to come. I had always been a light lover on the inside. I tried to take comfort in knowing that a few more minutes of daylight was being added each day, but I...