"When is she due?" Mom asked me when I told her Dad was marrying her.

 How did Mom know?

Mom had received a phone call from a woman asking for Dad; she answered, "He moved out."

The woman on the other end of the line asked, "Sara?" Seems Dad’s new love had left a trail of destruction behind her; the woman on the other end of the phone had her marriage wrecked by Sara as well.

Laura didn't have two parents. So instead she decided she'd have six abs. It was easy. Five hundred crunches three times a day. She told her mom not to pack lunch, she'd buy it at school; told her not to save any leftovers, she'd eaten dinner at a friend's house. Then the abs left her too - just skin and ribs and fistfulls of hair to keep her company.

It's been ten years since I have seen you, and your facebook message says, "what's up, girl?" Well, obviously something since our only interactions have been liking pictures of each other's kids, the invitation you sent me to your wedding (pass), and the invite to your wife's baby shower (uh, no). You're getting divorced. That sucks, man, but I don't have much else to say to someone who has always been just a fleeting thought. Do I have any single friends? Yep, I could have seen that one…

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He has a daughter who locked her love for him away a long time ago. Now, she wears a dozen different masks to hide her feelings, although she showed her heart just once, just briefly, that time when she was college-drunk. 

 They walk down a street, inches apart, in silence, and the gods are willing him -- WILLING  him -- to reach over, put his arm around her, tell her a private joke, or take her hand when they cross the street, even though she's too old for that, but wouldn't it be a…

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She leaned way out of her comfort zone to "friend" him on Facebook and then again to accept his frequent texts and phone calls.

Over months, he wooed her with words until she believed he adored her and agreed to meet him for a night of long-awaited passion.

 The following day he cooled measurably, and when they returned to their respective home states, he told her that, because she was married, he could not continue the "relationship."

She was devastated and sought…

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I had been single again for about a year, divorced for almost three months when I happened to run into an old friend of mine, Ryan. We'd known each other since we were kids, grew up together in the same neighborhood, we'd even slept together before during a period of long separation from my first husband, and I had grown to trust him without the risk of falling in love. So it felt natural to bring him home to my little house after a long day of CNA training, eat take out, visit and get…

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He had imposed a deadline.



Tossing and turning the pros and cons in the scratchy grey dawn she suddenly recalled a conversation in Amsterdam, a conversation from three or four years ago which, due in part to its out-of-placeness, was unusually frank. And they'd been virtually strangers too, since although Sharon was a fellow student, notorious for her installation of a bedstead to which was attached a row of papier maché penises, of varying dimensions and colours (Title ‘Sizes that… Continue

My neighbour, Aloysius, has a curious habit. Continue

From occasional conversations over ten years.

He’d got her pregnant at fifteen (she was no shrinking violet and I could well imagine his physical irresistibility).

She got breast cancer, was treated and recovered – he told me during this time that “he didn’t know why, but he couldn’t do anything right”.

They’d three daughters and had a… Continue

I fell off a barstool and broke my ass. Busted “cock-six” is how you say it. It would have been one of those great “This is how we met” stories if my future wife had witnessed the whole scene. But it’s 8 years too late and she’s already my ex so now it can be her “This is why I left his broke ass” story. Except what knocked me over was watching all my numbers come up. My broke ass was 18 million in the Pick 6 rich.

She left on a Tuesday, this much I'm sure of. My first week alone dragged on interminably, aided, no doubt, by a long playlist of acoustic covers of terribly sad songs. The first month rode the pendular ebb and flow of hope and pessimism, each crest celebrated with positive messages to concerned friends, each denouement punctuated by a healthy indulgence in distilled spirits. Twelve weeks gone by and I no longer check my email with the rabid fervor of the lonely and desperate, hoping blindly to… Continue

Christmas at Grandma's

by Fred Meyer



As a child, I loved going to visit my grandma's house for a holiday or during a break at school; although my parents had been divorced for about five years, and I hadn't seen my dad in nearly as many, my dad's mom and that side of the family still loved to see and dote on me—every hour spent with them was wonderful, overflowing with both fun and kindness.



Excitement filled… Continue

He stole her youth - she was young and naive. He was older - he made her laugh, and promised to love her forever. He was her first love - she believed in him. She got pregnant - they got married. He cheated on her for years – she was the last to know. Twenty-one years later - she still celebrates the day her divorce was final.

It's been a while since I was here last. In fact, I didn't remember my sign in name and my password. So I am starting from scratch again. It doesn't matter, it is a good time for new beginnings, as if there is ever a good time for old beginnings.



Things have changed. I have been single now for 4 months, coming up on 5, and it is agreeing with me very well, contrary to everyone's expectations, including my own. I had been married more than 14 years and it was believed that I would not… Continue