Not the worst, but life changing. Three years ago. No handmade card my husband might have had my daughter make. No gifts. No texts from family. Only one to acknowledge my birthday was my coworker who gave me a bag of gummy worms (I love gummies). Cried at work, walked home to an empty house.
Three years later I left…

Hey Flee! Fancy meeting you here.

The girl scout troop I lead has met in the same church since kindergarten, they’re now in 4th grade. Its built on the side of a hill, and we meet in the “basement” which is really a large, well lit room full of windows. At the back of the room is a hall with the bathrooms, and stairs to the main floor. The girls call…

My senior year I was put in a small Christian private school. After years of being homeschooled my style had diverged a great deal from my new early 00's preppy classmates. While they did the breezy floral and khaki, my favorite outfits were green cargo pants, long sleeved tie dye (proudly made at camp) with a…

After my younger brother was born my mom traded in her Ranger for an Astro van. She would often recount how the sales guy never looked at her, only my father, even when answering her questions. They bought the Astro, but the experience pissed her off, and as the world’s tiniest sweetest lady, that’s hard to do.

Freedom Township and Manchester Village in Southern MI. Another pipeline is currently being built. All through ecologically significant wetlands. It’s the new rural American story. Places if strong identity, barely hanging on, selling their soul for what scraps they can.

I did some research when I found out what happened to us. It seems to be a regular tactic of oil companies. A few papers in the south and Alaska covered it when it has happened there. I know of no major news outlet who has done a story on it. It’s one of those reprehensible but completely legal things big companies…

The tax revenue will also probably end up being far less then promised. Often after finishing a pipeline the oil company will sue to get their taxes reassesed at a far lower value. Just happened to my really small town. Embridge built a new pipeline. As soon as it finished they got their property taxes reassesed, and…

I had to be put under for my emergency c-section. (The curse of red hair, numbing agents aren’t as effective) My Sammach and I didn’t meet for over an hour and I wasn’t with it enough to hold her til the next day. She’s now 7. We have a great relationship for a mom and 2nd grader, and she is awesome (people I haven’t…

My DD is a $600 cherokee. Ligitmately terrifying. Does not handle any road condition well (or just the road). It starts every morning no matter the temp though. Will love it until it dies, and probably takes me with it.

Jeans shopping with my mom when I was a freshman who thought I was chubby and weird.
<I pick up a size 8>
Mom: “8 is okay, but make sure you never reach size 12. Always keep yourself healthy enough to stay below size 12.” (basically make sure you don’t get fat, and here is the line where fat starts)

My mom is a wonderful…

The first car I purchased solo was for my husband. A 01 Focus wagon. It was perfect for our country family, but I made every rookie mistake. I knew better; multiple owners, once a fleet vehicle, but I REALLY wanted a wagon.
2 years into ownership and we have sunk an extra 4k into it, and just added another $600 for a…

The Adventures of Milo and Otis. The greatest survival story ever told.

I actually live less then 5 miles from this. We are a community of small farms, and right now is soybean harvest time. The skelleton was found in a soybean field. Time is money, and not getting the harvest in at the right time is a years worth of money wasted.
The farmer was super cool about it though. He let a lot of…

Halter top dress. The strap was a bit long so my mom took it to, what I assume, the cheapest seamstress in the county. Her solution was to shorten the strap by sewing in one tiny plastic snap onto the inside of the strap.

When I was 3 my parents bought a brand new 1987 Astro. They ordered it special, with a manual trans and cruise control. It had no radio, since I had, at age 4, turned the volume all the way up and burst the speakers. It never had AC and spent the last decade of it's life without heat. We were a homeschooling family,…

Everything that could be, was DIY for my wedding. But I didn't want it to look DIY. So I created these amazing and unique invitations with circles and flaps. I've never seen any thing like it before or since. And I am sure there is a reason. It took me and my fiance, and my parents, siblings, soon to be in-laws,…

Junior year of highschool I was on a missions trip in Mexico. Last night, and we are at a going away party the community we were in put on for us. All night local guys from the community were coming up to me and giving me gifts. I smiled and accepted the gifts. But it is weird because guys and girls were separated the…

I feel the same, for those and other reasons. My father has boxes and boxes of that era's sci-fi (I just moved 10 of them to a storage unit last week), and he hands me a few musty paper backs every time he in town.

I have some to add! Vatta's War series by E. Moon is all about economy and how interstellar trade and communication works. Having diamond play such a big role is a bit ridiculous but the rest is well thought out and kept me involved in the universe.