For most of my life, I believed that being a good mother meant putting my children first. I never expected applause for it. I never kept a list of everything I had given up. And I certainly never imagined that one day I would have to wonder whether my own children remembered any of it….
Nearly four decades after Young Guns first arrived in theaters, several of the actors who helped make the 1988 Western memorable have come together once again. The reunion gave longtime viewers a rare opportunity to see members of the original cast sharing the same space after many years apart. Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond…
My daughter had never spent an entire week away from home before. She was twelve years old, responsible, curious, and the kind of child who usually followed every rule without being reminded twice. She earned excellent grades. She helped around the house. She was thoughtful with younger children. And although she was becoming more independent…
Few movies capture the energy of a particular era quite like Young Guns. Released in 1988, the Western quickly became one of the most recognizable films of its generation, combining an old-fashioned frontier story with a young, charismatic cast that helped give the movie a distinctly modern personality. More than three decades later, the film continues…
My son Ethan had always been afraid of hospitals. He hated needles. He hated medical appointments. He would avoid getting blood tests whenever possible and used to joke that he could handle almost anything except the sight of a syringe. That fear had become even stronger after his older brother died several years earlier. Hospitals…
I had been looking forward to my sixtieth birthday for months. It wasn’t going to be an enormous celebration. I didn’t want a rented ballroom, an expensive band, or hundreds of guests. I wanted something simple. A warm dinner. Good food. A few close friends. And, most importantly, a peaceful evening in the home I…
One hour before I was supposed to walk down the aisle, I thought the biggest challenge of the day would be keeping my nerves under control. I was wrong. My name is Emma, and for nearly a year, my fiancé Tristan and I had been planning our wedding. We weren’t trying to organize anything extravagant….
For eight years, I thought I knew my husband. Ryan and I had been married for most of our son’s life. We had built a comfortable routine around work, school, family responsibilities, and the ordinary chaos of raising a child. Our son, Toby, was six years old. He was energetic, curious, and constantly asking questions….
My parents had lived in the same small Texas town for most of their lives. It was the kind of place where people recognized your last name before they knew your first. My dad had worked at the same company for decades. My mom volunteered at local events, knew most of the neighbors, and could…
My grandfather Henry had talked about Hawaii for as long as I could remember. Whenever someone asked him about the happiest years of his life, he almost always mentioned the same place. Oahu. He had been stationed there during World War II. He was a young man at the time, barely old enough to understand…