Category: Pets

My mom had me when she was only 19, and for the longest time, it was us against the world. We were a team. She worked two jobs to keep us afloat,…

I’m 75 years old, born and raised in Tennessee. I’ve spent most of my life taking in the ones nobody else wanted. I didn’t plan it that way when I was younger….

I was ten when my mother decided I was a burden. She had a new family and I didn’t fit the picture. So she got rid of me and gave me away…

There stood Rodrigo, the husband, and beside him Doña Bernarda, his mother. And in an act of shameless audacity, Sofía—Rodrigo’s assistant—was there as well, clinging to his arm. When the head physician,…

Last week, my husband and I went to the shelter with the simple intention of adopting a puppy. While we were there, we met two very young Golden retriever mix puppies who…

I never planned on becoming a stepmom. When I met Daniel, he came with a seven-year-old daughter named Lily. She was quiet and watchful. The kind of kid who observed everything before…

Dogs live in the present, not the future, so all he does for now, on his daily walks, is scan for his monks. He misses his monks. But his priority is healing…

I was a grown woman crying in the middle of a Goodwill aisle over a used winter coat—navy, a little puffy, zipper stuck, but warm, and only twenty dollars. Our seven-year-old, Liam,…

Part I — The Bad Investment My name is Francis Townsend, and I’m twenty-two. Two weeks ago, I stood on a graduation stage in front of three thousand people while my parents—the…

I arrived at my son’s house for Christmas, but he said, “Who invited you, old woman? This is only for family—leave.” I calmly walked away, but the next morning I looked at…