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'We stayed at a bed and breakfast in South Carolina for about 3 days or so for a birthday celebration for my Mom. We also visited another relative in Georgia for a few days.'

"I remember a recent event in June 2019. My Mom and I went on a birthday trip to South Carolina. We stayed at a bed and breakfast for 3 days. The bed and breakfast had a lot of good reviews, but we didn't feel that it was the best one we had been to so far! The service was not what was expected, but we had fun. The first night we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Breakfast was prepared all mornings we were there. The other nights, we had Chinese and also ate in Savannah, GA. For fun, we went to a plantation and traveled to other cities, like Charleston and Savannah, GA. After our stay at the bed and breakfast, we drove to my uncle's house in Georgia. The trip took about 8 hours from where we stayed in South Carolina. We stayed for a couple of days, then went home. We also ate dinner at a restaurant. Our relative gave us a tour around the city. It was very nice and comfortable there. It was a memorable trip, getting to see other states as we rode along."

'In my last week at my previous job, my colleagues threw a surprise farewell party at a local microbrewery. I received cards, gifts, and even cakes. I was really thankful of my managers, colleagues, and my time at the company.'

'I had to leave me job previously. All my coworkers helped me out by giving me a going away part. It was at a local brewery. There were lots of people there. Almost everyone from work. I got card and gift. And plenty of cake was flowing around. I was glad for all my managers and colleagues that helped me while I was there. They are true friends. My time with the company was great. It was good to have good friends and leaders there to help me when I needed them. I am glad I was a part of the company. It was very nice to see that they are true friends. The party was fun. I felt that everyone there was a true friend to me.'

'The diary was about the day i got married to my wife. Who I met in highschool. and enjoying our best life now with our 2 children.'

"Memorable day of my life. This reminds me of 5 months ago. The year I got married to my beautiful wife. It was a great and amazing day. It was a day I will never forget in my life. I met my wife in high school. And we've been dating ever since then. We both met eachother and fell in love at first sight. We eventually got married 5 months ago and it was a really beautiful moment. In fact one of the most beautiful moment of my life. The wedding was on my birthday. I can remember vividly, how beautiful my wife looked in the white wedding gown. My family traveled thousands of miles just to be with us and celebrate with us. Glory to God, we have 2 beautiful children together. And we're living our best life."

'My daughter got a rare disorder after getting flu. It was horrible to see. She had rashes that got worse everyday and was spreading.'

"Six months ago, right after Valentine's Day, I took my daughter to doctor. She was broke out in bad rash. She had been diagnosed with flu shortly before. She was taking Tamiflu. They thought it was a reaction to that. The rashes got worse and had spread more by then. The following week she went to a different doctor since she wasn't getting better. They said she had Henoch Shonlein Purpura. It can come on after a virus or such. It is very rare. It is a disorder, characterized by rashes. It is when blood vessels leak. Most people we told had never heard of it before. The rashes were horrible. Thank God they did not hurt. Protein and blood in urine happened with it too. It has to be watched. The rashes went away and the protein levels are dropping. It was horrible and scary seeing those rashes."

'I traveled to Colorado and decided to conquer a mountain. I chose Mt. Ouray and hiked to 13,960ft+ to the summit by myself. It was an incredible experience and gave me confidence for what I could do on my own.'

"This year I traveled to Colorado in my campervan to do some exploring and hiking in the national forests. I decided I want to go on a big hike this year and conquer a 13er. So I chose to hike Mt. Ouray which is almost a 14er, 13,960ft+. It was a long drive up to around 11,000ft and then I got up early in the morning and hiked the rest. It was a very difficult hike. It took me several hours and I was by myself during this so I had to be very careful. Eventually after around 4 hours I made it to the summit. I almost thought that I was going to have to turn back. The view opened up in all directions to incredible vistas and vastness surpassing anything I had seen before. I was all alone on the summit miles away from any other human beings. It was quite special and I was very proud of myself for my accomplishment. The hike down was also quite difficult. It took me longer to descend and my legs were very tired. I brought just enough gear and water for the trip, just light enough to make it easy for me to carry. I planned it well on a perfectly clear day and got back to my camper around 3pm. It was an incredible experience and not one that I'll ever forget."

"My family and I attended the 4th of July celebration at my mom and dad's home. Everyone had a great time, especially me when I saw Mom wearing her new dentures."

"I went to celebrate my 4th of July celebration at my parent's home. This one probably one of the more memorable 4th of July celebration that I can recall. When I arrived I was surprised with joy and definitely pure happiness when I saw my mom. She flaunted her dentures to me and I was very happy for her, and at the same time wanted to joke about her new dentures because she looked so different, but in a good way. I went to the back and saw my dad cooking the meat already. I asked my dad if I could help prepare some of the meat to barbecue but he insisted that he did not need any help. I went back to my mom to ask if I could help out more, luckily my mom actually needed my help. I love helping around when there is an event, especially to my parents. I tried rearranging the seat arrangement that my mom tried to do because everything was more cluttered and feels awkward for guests. Later that day my brother arrived. He was more in charge with the fireworks so I was definitely excited with that. Him and I are very psyched about fireworks/firecrackers even back then when we were so young. The night was almost over and the fireworks that my brother brought was more unique than usual, it was a lot more brighter and has more pop to them when they went up to the sky. I still laugh at how my mom looked differently with her dentures even after a few days, maybe I just missed her that much. It was just one of those days that you cant stop being grateful for the family around you."

'II attended a 20th wedding anniversary celebration for some old friends and presented some haikus I had written as part of the ceremony. Most of the other attendees at the event were also personal friends of mine and I had a great time celebrating and catching up with them all.'

"Two weeks ago yesterday I attended a 20th anniversary celebration of Sharon and Mike's wedding and celebrated with some of my old friends. Mark and Alyssa were there, and even Rodney showed up for a little while. I hadn't seen Rodney in ages! There were a couple people there that I didn't know, but most of them were our friends from back in high school. I remember Mike, Rodney and I used to get into so much trouble skipping class! Anyways, I had a great time celebrating with friends and seeing everyone. The dinner was tasty and Alyssa even brought some expensive Italian Cabernet for us to try. I think I still prefer a sweeter white zinfandel, but it was alright. After dinner (and dessert), we retired to the living room where we played some games together. Mark led us in an exercise writing poetry, and at the expense of my dignity I shared a couple of haikus that I wrote. I thoroughly enjoyed the poetry. Our hostess then entertained us by bringing out the old VHS recording of their wedding and reception. Crazy to think that it has been 20 years already! Everyone looked so young in the video. Our lives have all gone off in different directions, what with Rodney moving to the big city and Alyssa traveling the world as a freelance writer and journalist. Even Mike moved away to the country to start a vineyard. It was great being able to catch up with everyone, and I hope we are able to get together like that more often."

'I went hiking on one of my favorite trails in the mountains. It was a tough hike, but I ultimately made it to the end.'

'I recently went on one of my favorite hikes in a nearby mountain range. It was a beautiful day. This particular trail was rather difficult. Although I had hiked it many times, I felt more physically exhausted than usual. I quickly realized I was going to have a tough day on the trail. There were several points along the hike where I thought about turning around. However, I kept moving forward. When I reached the summit of the mountain I felt a great sense of personal pride and accomplishment. I love hiking and I consider it a big part of who I am as a person. I spent at least two years of my life hiking several times a month. I would mostly go hiking alone. I like hiking alone because I learn something new about myself each time. The time I spend alone with myself in the mountains is very valuable. On this particular hike I realized that the trail does not always just hand you a victory. This is a valuable lesson that I hope to carry with me through other areas of my life.'

'I brought the family to the apple orchard. We were able to do lots of fun things while we were there.'

'A few weeks ago we decided to go to the apple orchard. The day was bright and sunny but felt chilly for summer. We went planning to see the animals, pick apples, ride the wagon. This year they added a big jump pad for the kids to play in! When we go there we played in the little wood houses they have first, then went to the yearly wagon ride! On the wagon ride the guide told us all about the farm and how much water it takes, how many apples they produce, and all sorts of information. After the wagon ride we were able to get lost in the corn maze, they added fun trivia to help point you in the right way this year. Then at the exit we were able to jump on the giant pumpkin pad. We of course gathered a bag of apple to bring home. The kids loved eating the fresh apples instead of bagging them. The little one was able to ride around on my solders while we walked around eating our apples. They also took away the pedal bike races and replaced it with a mine shaft play area where you could purchase bags of sand with gems. To finish up our day we looks at the animals, we saw little pigs, lamas, goats, and lots of other farm animals. We will probably be back again in the next couple weeks to go play for a while. I can not wait to go next year and see what else they add!'

'I got a promotion at work, working for a department that did more than three times my current volume. I also moved to a new state for the first time.'

"This move is much different than I thought it would be. It has been hard to adjust to a new environment. There is too much pressure and I feel like I am failing. I see others do much better than me and take on more responsibility. I want to do well but I don't know if I can do it. Anytime that I feel like I am making progress there are more steps back. More of what I want to do seems out of reach. I am afraid that it was a mistake. My life back home was easier. It was easier to do the same thing again and again. It was easier to have the same places to go and not be too concerned about what to do next. I would like an easier job. I received a raise but not by much. I am not sure if it was worth it but I am here now. I cannot change the past and I need to move forward. The was is not what I expected."

'I went on a rock cruise with some friends. I had the best time of my life and got to meet and get to know rock band members who I have been a far of for years. One performance in particular was so magical that I get goosebumps thinking about it and I will never forget it for as long as I live.'

'I went on a rock cruise with three of my girlfriends a few months ago. One of my friends had posted a youtube video from last year\'s and another friend commented that she really wanted to go on it sometime so I replied that if she was serious we should plan it because I really wanted to as well. The two of us, the original friend who posted it and another friend of theirs were able to get a quad cabin and go. I wasn\'t sure what to expect and was a little nervous about what to pack or what the experience would be like. I have gone to lots of concerts for year and I always am happy and comfortable at rock concerts. From the time we got on the boat I felt at home and like I was meant to be there. The first night of the cruise one of the bands I was most interested in seeing was doing a performance in a pretty small lobby area so I made sure to get there early so I could get a spot; I was able to get a spot on the stairs looking down on the stage and the performance was nothing less than chill inducing. You could feel the passion in their performance and everyone watching was locked in enjoying it. At one point the singer said that they were just a bunch of Texas boys used to sitting around a campfire with an acoustic guitar and beers and singing, he and one of the guitarists went and sat on the bar and did what turned into a singalong of a classic rock song. Everyone in that lobby area all the way up to the balconies looking down was signing along. I felt at home and actually teared up at what a special moment it was. Throughout the cruise we would run into band members all over the place; in the dining hall, at the ports, in the casino, just hanging out and they were all nice as could be. I left my phone in my cabin most of the time and wasn\'t even concerned with taking photos or videos of performances, I just lived in the moment. I stood and talked with band members of bands who I have been a fan of for years and they seemed to have a genuine interest in what we were talking about, I got to meet people I never would have dreamed of meeting and I discovered some new bands. Since the cruise ended I bought a meet and greet for one of the bands when they were in my town and I mentioned that we "vacationed together" and all of them lit up talking about the experience. One of the members of the band had been sitting behind me with his girlfriend at a comedy show and I offered to buy them drinks, just because I\'m a fan and appreciate what their music has gotten me through and done for me. With no prompting, he looked at me and said, "Wait. I remember you, you bought me a beer! My girlfriend and I really appreciated that!" and we had more of a conversation about the cruise. I figured I would have a good time and I always wanted to go on this cruise because it is very popular in the rock community. I had an even better time than I imagined I would. I walked around the entire time with a smile on my face and I am going back next year!'

'My boss turned in her two week notice. I have to deal with missing her and figuring out a way to solve problems on my own.'

"My boss recently let me know that she had turned in her two week notice. By the time I found out she only had a week left to work because the partners at the firm wanted to keep it quiet. I was extremely shocked and sad when I found out. I had been working for her for almost six years. I was so shocked that I could barely listen during my CPE class I attended that day. My boss had become more than just a boss, she was my friend so I knew I would miss her a lot. She was also the person I went to with any questions so work is going to be harder now without her. I am not sure how my firm will survive, she was very smart and worked really hard. She kept us all running smoothly. Now that she is gone I have more work because everyone's work got shifted to take over what she used to do. I miss her a lot but I am happy for her. She deserves the best. I am now having to learn how to manage without her. She was always my go to person when I could not figure something out. ninspend a lot more time researching. I always took it for granted that she would be able to help me out. ni am learning to stand in my own to feet and make judgment calls now though."

"The sun is up and no worries on other things, so my mind switches and people are willing to do on there own freewill. Just watch what's around me and trying to do my own thing. Hard to express this event but i try to get away but land in the same exact situation."

"A click in my mind and all goes spiraling again. I never forget the important things to me, but to let go means let in more negative things. I think that I'm stalled out in life, and not stuck and most likely why i had a crazy situation growing up. I keep pressing through life and hope something will change and most of us go through this at some point or over and over again. I hope to grow old quicker just to give god the finger, begging for truth. Lonely but not miserable, you don't see my simple needs, you don't see my raising. Could be due to my negative background but you still pop up in my mind, and no, i don't wanna chase you. I begged for change and i got it, but what all triggered these events? Lost love and confusion and cock blocked. I hate saying oh well, but all i can do is hope for the better. Changing what i do, pray that i die, hope to grow old and forget, keep what i remember and hope things move on. You hope at death, you'll forget, but you ask for a life that you know will have hardships. I do come to my own understanding that I'm not in my rightful place or surroundings, i belong traveling or around high energy people but i also have things holding me back from doing other things that i might enjoy. I take god into account and i also take life and something around it, but I'm ready to continue on but who knows. I get masked cause the body doesn't want to be in a draining depression all the time that i can't really help. Just free writing and experiencing anxieties,"

"Going to my niece's birthday party, where we danced, played games, ate cake and had a grand ole time. We also play with barbies and she has trouble blowing out some trick candles."

"A couple of months ago it was my niece's birthday. She was turning four and had a small get together of family and friends at her parent's place. The party started out with her doing a dance. Then we went outside to eat some pizza and play. After the pizza, she wanted to play with some barbies. I decided to play with her so we went upstairs to her room to get the barbies. It took us a few minutes to decided how many to get. Her little brother also joined us. All together we probably had eight or nine barbies and a large bus for the barbies. Unfortunately, by the time we had retrieved all the barbies it was time for cake and for a six year old, cake trumps. We sang her happy birthday and lit the cake. Then she proceeded to try and blow out the candles for the next three to four minutes to no avail. It turns out her parent's had put trick candles on the cake and we all had a good laugh about it. After the cake we put some music on and danced a bit more. Finally everybody started to say their goodbyes and we all left the birthday with a few new toys and a belly full of cake."

'I hired a lawn service for the summer. He ended up being an absolute nightmare. He started harassing me to pay my bill and saying rude things a week before it was due even though the previous bills I had always paid the same day that I received them.'

'I hired a lawn service at the beginning of summer. I had a "not so great" feeling about him from the start. He\'s done an okay job, but he\'s never consistent with timing. He\'ll show up anywhere from a week to two weeks a part. No problem though. I can deal with that. He emails an invoice on the last day of every month, which is due within 20 days. I always just pay right away, so there\'s never been a complaint from his end. Well, he was here at the end of September, but October 13th came around and he still wasn\'t here. I hadn\'t paid for October yet simply because I forgot. I had a lot going on, but it\'s not like it was late. The payment wasn\'t even due until the 20th. The morning of the 13th, I get this angry email that there will be a late fee for payments made late. So, I immediately grab my invoice to make sure he didn\'t change the due date on it or something and I missed it. But, nope, it wasn\'t due till the 20th. So, I shoot him an email saying I had no intention of paying it late, but thanks for the warning, I guess. He ends up sending me four rude emails throughout the day saying that just because the bill says the 20th doesn\'t mean I have to wait till then to pay it. And, he said he doesn\'t like to babysit customers and all of kinds of other garbage. I was nice initially, thinking maybe he confused me with someone else. I mean, I\'ve always paid like the day I get the bill. He definitely didn\'t have me confused. He just kept being rude until I finally sent him back a message telling him basically where he could shove his business and what I thought of him. It really stressed me out. I couldn\'t even sleep that whole night because he had me so worked up all day over this. I don\'t think I\'ve ever had such bad customer service.'

'It was like watching a movie of myself. I was doing things, seeing myself do things and I was in a fog. I was diagnosed with limbic encephalitis, inflammation on my brain.'

"Living with limbic encephalitis has greatly affected my outlook on life. I have a history of auto-immune disorders in my family but this seems to be worse than what my other family members suffer with. They have disorders as mild as eczema, and as severe as Crohn's Disease. Until eight months ago, when I was diagnosed with this disease. My life has changed dramatically. It began with headaches that were very severe and for a while I assumed I was having migraines. Then defective brain activity began to come into play. I would have hallucinations of various degrees. It would all seem so real at the time is was happening to me. Brain swelling can play some very cruel tricks on you. I also have a disconnected feeling to reality when interacting in my day to day life. It has caused me to leave me job and rely on disability checks. My pride almost can't handle it. I used to be very self-reliable and don't like being the recipient of charity. The past eight months I have had to make many adjustments to the physical aspects of my life, along with mental."

"The life-changing event of a job loss is never easy. It's an experience of watching everything you've become familiar with and known for so long slowly fade away. You lose your friends, your routines, and a little bit of yourself."

"In a few days, it will be five months since I lost my dream job. This was the job I worked towards my entire career as a chemist. As an investor funded company, I knew it could end at any time, but the company had just received the promise of another two years of funding. Our research was going well and we were meeting deadlines. The day that changed my life started as any other day at work. I was told there would be an impromptu meeting at the end of the day but that wasn't anything out of the norm. Unfortunately, I could not stay for the meeting as my 4 year old had swim practice on Wednesday evenings and I came in early to be able to take her. Everyone in that meeting was told to pack up their desks that evening and not to return. The funding that was promised was not going to happen and they could not afford to keep the staff for one more day. Since I was not at the meeting, I received my news by phone call, while sitting in the parking lot of the local rec center. I was told by HR to return the following day to collect my belongings and that there would be no severance package. It was so devastating of a loss that I could not focus on the task at hand of taking my daughter in for her lesson. The rest of the evening feels like a blur of events. All I can remember is going through the motions to make it to bedtime and getting on my computer to scour job postings. However, the city I live in is far more technology oriented and there were very few science oriented job postings. I started to become depressed and worried about our livelihood. I had only been with the company for a few months and already changed our lives for this job. I switched my daughter's preschool to be closer to my work and it was now a 30 minute commute from our home, with a few months left of the school year. I had also booked a cruise vacation with the extra income this job was providing and felt stressed about making the payments with only one income. The friends I made with my new co-workers were still too new that I didn't have a single one of them on social media. I also wasn't there for the final meeting and that left me without a means of gaining their contact information. I grieved for their loss as well. I knew the hardships a few of my single co-workers were going through and felt lucky that I had my husband to fall back on. This loss was one of the hardest I've encountered but it also brought about such wonderful change. I switched careers to substitute teaching and not being in a lab meant it was safe to have another baby."

"I had a mini stroke from a subdural hemotoma. I was able to walk to the hospital. It was so close, I didn't want a 500 dollar bill for a few blocks. It was from a old fall from a scooter."

"I can't believe this happened to me. Of all the terrible things I've dealt with in my life, now at the ripe age of 50, I had to deal with more. I was just in my kitchen, baking some cookies for my grandchildren. They were supposed to come over later after their classes. I was so excited to see them, I love them dearly. It was after mixing all the ingredients, that I suddenly felt off. I began to feel some weakness and tingling in my arms, and my vision became a bit blurry. I needed to sit down before I passed out. After some time, I felt a bit better. I knew exactly what was happening to me, though. I had a mini stroke. A couple of years back, I had fallen off of a scooter when I was trying to teach my grandkids. That had led to a subdural hematoma, and I knew the risk of a stroke had increased. I needed to make my way to the hospital to get checked out, and I felt well enough to walk. Why pay for an ambulance ride that would cost me a lot of money? So, I walked to the hospital, which was not too far."

'I was ready for a change... so I moved to Florida, not knowing a single soul. I got out there and explored and experienced things and met people. It has made me a stronger, more independent woman and for that I am so grateful!'

"I was going through a hard time advancing where I used to live. I knew the only way for me to grow was to get out and do new things. In life that's one of the most important things to become your best self. Back home I basically worked every entry level job already. So I had a little too much experience and couldn't pick up much more work. I was ready for a change so I moved to florida. I didn't know anyone when I had gotten there. I just got out there and started to explore. I knew something would come up just being active and experienced. I was able to meet new people and do things that I haven't done before. I really enjoyed doing these things. I think it's cool to meet people and do things with them. thats how relationships are made. It was really great and made me realize even more this move was right. It has made me stronger and more independent woman and for that I am so grateful."

"I went to my friend's birthday party at a korean bbq restaurant. Afterwards I went to another friend's house to watch Zootopia."

"Dear Diary. A month ago I went to my friend's birthday party. We had dinner at a korean bbq restaurant. The restaurant was far away so I ended up carpooling with friends that also were going to the party. They picked me up at around 5 PM but had to make a stop at Target first because some of my friends had not bought a birthday gift yet. They ended up buying makeup for the birthday girl and a card and we were on our way. I already had bought a gift from Amazon so I did not buy anything at Target. We were one of the first people to get to the restaurant so we got to pick which table we wanted to sit at and thankfully we all got to sit together. It was interesting because my friend had invited 25 people, so many people who were invited I did not even talk to. Most of us did not even talk to the birthday girl because she was sitting at a different table from most of us. I ended up sitting with people that I knew, so it was as if I just went to go out to eat with these people for no occasion. Nevertheless, the restaurant was so good and I had good conversation. The food was expensive and so was the commute (1 hour), but I still think it was worth it. I got my friend a pusheen plushy and she seemed to really like the gift. Afterwards my friend I was sitting next to at the restaurant asked if I wanted to go see a movie at her apartment, so I did and we watched Zootopia."

'I went to Busch Gardens. I went on a safari and fed some giraffes! It was so much fun seeing all of the wonderful and unique animals there I would love to go back and do it again!'

'So I went to Busch gardens a few weeks ago in Tampa Bay. I mainly wanted to see the animals at the zoo. I got to see all types of animals such as crocodiles as well as cheetahs. I went on the cheetah run ride which was really fun. I also went on a bunch of roller coasters which were fun as well. But the main thing I wanted to do was go on the safari! On the safari you get an up close look at rhinos as well as ostriches and zebras and giraffes! And on top of that you get to feed the giraffes! We went out on a jeep and the giraffes all came over! They very huge and very hungry. We had lettuce and we got to feed the giraffes and just hang out with them for awhile it was great! It was the highlight of the trip for sure! After that I got some pizza at the restaurant over looking the safari. I relaxed a bit by the pool before heading home. It was a great day!'

'I recently had my first child and it was a girl. I never imagined that I would have a daughter since all of my family for the past 3 generations had boys.'

"The one thing that I remember and can think about better than any in my entire life is the birth of my daughter. I have always wanted a daughter and never imagined that I would be having one. All of my family, including cousins, aunts, uncles, and anyone for the past 3 generations has had boys. There are no girls in our family over those 3 generations. The day that we had the revealing ultrasound was one of the happiest days of my life. The day she was born was the best and it was unimaginable how it would change my life. I am so thankful and grateful for having her. I couldn't imagine life being any other way. The amount of love that I never imagined having blew me away. When she was brought out, I remember the look she had. It was almost as if she was looking at me and could see every notion of my being. I know she couldn't see, but it sure felt like it. Her eyes were looking directly at me and she didn't whimper one bit. That day is a day I could never forget. It was the most beautiful and captivating face I have ever seen. My daughter who looked exactly like me. It's crazy to think about it, but she sis a spitting image of myself."

'Me and my family moved in with my dad, into the childhood home where I grew up. This was difficult for all of us for a few reasons, but it has overall been a positive change.'

'At the end of May, me, my 2 kids, and my soon to be ex husband moved into my dads house. This was the house I grew up in, and the house my children will spend most of their growing years in. My husband and I were having financial troubles and we knew something had to change soon. My dad graciously agreed to let us move in and make any changes we saw fit. Our current plan is for my husband to look for a new job, one that pays him more than his current job, and save enough money to move out into his own apartment. As you can imagine, this can make for a stressful experience for a few reasons. One, we are divorcing, so we do not always see to eye and seeing each other constantly does not help our situation. Two, in the beginning it was quite rough moving back home to the house I grew up in. I felt like I had failed. Watching all my peers on social media get engaged, get married, buy a house, only added to that feeling. This feeling thankfully, did not last long. I now feel like this is my house, and I am happy to give my kids some stability, rather than moving apartments every few years. I did not realize how much of an effect moving had on me or my older son until one day shortly after we moved he made me promise that we wouldn\'t move again. Now more than ever, stability is important to me. That was probably one of the most surprising parts of the move, how it affected him, and how for the first time I felt like I had truly failed on my end as a parent to provide him with a stable home. The second part was feeling how I had failed as an adult by not being able to live on my own like I "should". Living with my dad again has some perks, like he is always around to babysit, and there are drawbacks as well. He is not the cleanest person and so that is frustrating. We all share one bathroom, and that is also something that we all had to adjust too as well. We have now been here for almost 4 months and I would say the benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks at this point.'

'I went on a trip. I developed a relationship with a random stranger. My life changed in a way I never expected it to.'

"About five months ago, I went on a road trip. The trip was after a particularly bad event happened. I wasn't in the best mental state at first. When I had been gone for several weeks though, I met someone while hiking. This person ended up knowing my grandmother which surprised us both. We talked for a while and had an enjoyable time. I went on with my trip and when I got back, I called them to chat. We talked for several hours and to put a long story short we ended up getting engaged. So this random person I never met just happens to know someone I do and then we just hit it off. I never expected that to happen. My life completely changed. I wasn't down anymore. I finally had something to live for. I am exited for what ever comes next. Life is good again."

'I had an uncle die before I was born and recently found out another family member was there and could have possibly prevented it.'

"Two weeks before I was born, I had an uncle that past away in a car accident. He choose to get into a car with a friend driving, and not wear a seat belt. They were both intoxicated. My whole life I have heard so many wonderful stories about him and how full of life he was. About a month ago, while scrolling through an old Facebook post that a family member had posted a picture marking that my uncle would have been 60 years old. I saw where another family member of mine who just recently passed due to years of substance abuse, had commented. She wrote that she was there at the bar that night, and realized that as he was leaving she should have stopped him, but didn't. I have such horrible feelings about seeing this post. Since she is also dead, there is no way for me to confront her and find some sort of resolution. How could she have let he just walk out knowing what state he was in? I have been left now after finding this information out, in such a state of turmoil. I'm not sure how to reconcile my feelings. I have always felt cheated in life that I never got to know him, and this comment that I discovered on Facebook makes it so much worse. I realize that he made his own choices, and that they were not good ones. I just wish my cousin had one moment in her life where she wasn't a complete waste and speak up for him and possibly keep him safe. I hate her. I never really liked her much because of how her drug/alcohol abuse made her act, but now I harbor such contempt with no way to confront her. It's one of those things everyone tells you to give to God. I'm trying."

'My husband cheated on me in the beginning of our relationship. The woman he cheated with was recently hired to be the secretary at his work.'

'I have married for about 7 years now. I have an anxiety condition that makes certain things hard for me such as strong emotional feelings and the inability to "get over" things. I was quite young when I met my husband but we instantly hit it off. Unfortunately in the beginning of our relationship we ran into some infidelity on my husbands part. Some very terrible things done right in front of me with terrible people only too eager to go along. Things that took years and years to stop haunting me every night but definitely never went away. I cant even think about these things without opening all the wounds back up. We got better and we moved on and we started to really grow together. We had children, he got more raises at his job. Recently we finally were able to move into a bigger and nicer house. I felt calmer and comfortable. Then one day about a month ago maybe not even that long, im sitting at the house cleaning up hanging out with the kids and I get a phone call. I answer it and its my husband and he doesnt know how to say it so he just does. The secretary at his work got fired and his boss hired a woman he had cheated on me with in the past. For most people that may have been uncomfortable but for me and my anxiety disorder it felt like a bomb went off in my head. I felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room and I started to cry and panic. It felt like my worst fear had sought me out to pluck me from the comfortability I had finally gotten used to. Its been hell since then. My husband has been faithful all these years since then and gives me no reason to doubt him but my anxiety doesnt care to hear any of it. He is trying his best and so am i, but i still sit here sick to my stomach thinking of that horrible woman up there in his space. I am trying to be strong and get through for my family.'

"My parents' celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. My dad came down to join the rest of us for a family dinner, though he was a little late and a little lost."

"The end of August marked my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. And fifty years ago, a lot happened that summer. My parents aren't much for big celebrations. However, there was much discussion around how everyone was going to get together. My dad spends a lot of time in the northern part of the state. Was everyone going to head up there? Were we going to meet somewhere in the middle? Dad finally decided to come down, but he didn't want a lot of fuss made or anyone to put themselves out, so he only told my mom and me. I think part of it was wanting to be a surprise and part of it was not wanting people to be disappointed if he couldn't make it down. He did finally make it down towards the end of dinner, though he had to call and get directed to my sister's house as it had been awhile since he had been there. He brought everyone something rather than the other way around, something that was supposed to have been done last Christmas, but oh well. It was a good time, laughing and talking with almost everyone there (my older sister couldn't make it). My parents reminisced about fifty years ago. My mom's brother also got married that year and I don't remember ever learning that, though I might have. It was good to see my dad and both mom and dad seemed to enjoy themselves. It was basically just a family dinner, but it meant a little more."

"One's cannot be satisfied is proven on that day. I was completely overwhelmed and satisfied with the things that are going in my life. I am so grateful to everyone."

'I would like to share some of my unforgettable moments which was happened during my last birthday party which was happened 6 months ago.. It was the best birthday in my life so far. I was given many gifts and also got blessings from the persons whom really wish me to be happy forever. I invited all of my friends irrespective of well known or not. And also I called up all my well wishers and also some of my office colleagues. It was like that I was surrounded by the people of goodness. My parents arranged many events and also they surprised me by giving me the presented I wished for so long. I was full of happiness that day. My colleagues also presented me with many gifts. I thanked everyone for their presence on my birthday and helped them to to go to their respective places without any issues. It was the day, I realized the importance of people and also the value of friends and family members. I hope to keep in touch them forever. So, This was how my birthday party was ended happily and satisfyingly. After that I went to my private room and thanked god for helping me to have such good friends and family. Yesterday when I got home from school I went to play with my friends. Some people from other streets were playing in the area where we were playing, and when they heard this was our area, they refused to go and tried to fight us. In that case, a friend of mine had hit one of them in the face with anger.'

'After losing around 80 pounds, I found that no one noticed that it was gone. I assumed that no one would ever noticed, but my friend did.'

"Two months ago, I lost a lot of weight. I lost 80 pounds. This was a huge loss in weight. The weird part was that nobody said anything about it. My coworkers just went on there day. My boss always gave me a frown. My wife didn't even notice and that was the strangest part. The only person who noticed was my friend. He gave me a lot of compliments about my weight loss. He also bought some beer to celebrate the occasion. We went to the bar and watched the football game. The cowboys barely won against the giants. This was a great time. I hope I can keep my weight off. This shouldn't be too hard if I just stick to calorie counting."

"It's necessary throughout this point that you simply lookout of yourself. Try and eat well and obtain enough rest."

'Certain levels of stress at work can even be beneficial, since they stimulate us and give us the batteries. However, having too many responsibilities, giving account to your boss or a bad relationship with colleagues can lead to severe stress that must be nipped in the bud, either taking a while, or looking for another job destination. There is even the Burnout syndrome, which is characterized by a progressive physical and mental exhaustion, a lack of absolute motivation for the tasks performed, and especially by important changes in behavior in those who suffer it. There are great sources of stress from the family: we may live with a loved one who is not in the best physical or mental condition and we have to take care of him, traumatic events such as the loss of a family member, economic problems at home, with our couple or even if we have children, who behave in an undesired way. The best we can do in these cases is, if it is a serious problem, seek psychological or psychiatric help. Although not all sentimental ruptures are the same for everyone, the vast majority causes great stress and regret. Thinking if the other person has remade his life, stagnate, not be able to reorient our goals, stay locked up at home ... there are certain cases in which psychological help is also required to overcome this type of trauma. A change, a change of city, the own emotional break and therefore ending with all those daily and routine activities that made us feel protected can be important sources of stress. Getting married or having children also causes some anxiety about the future, since we can have negative thoughts about a new stage in our life. There is only one place where you can live and enjoy, and it is this present moment, the one you have here and now, if you let your mind go to the past or future, you will stress and it will be an unreal stress, because you create yourself with your thoughts. Whether in our circle of friends or in our own work, we can suffer from so-called "toxic people". The ideal for a bad environment does not cause us stress, would be to spend as little time as possible with this type of people. But as often it is not possible, because it can be a family, or at work where we have to spend so many hours, it would be good if the little free time we had would be fully enjoyed, in order to balance the balance of negativity that we have had to be exposed. To be well with others, first you have to be well with yourself to be alone. In the age of social networks, many young people feel alone or are too aware of mobile phone notifications, which can cause a high amount of stress. It is increasingly common to reduce the actual contact, by contact with the computer and other electronic devices. Years ago, people related more time face to face.'

"After always looking after my Asperger's son, I prepared to send him off to live on his own. It was a heart wrenching and worrisome event for me."

"A heart-wrenching time in my life began with my son going off to college. Sending a child off to college is difficult for any parent but this seemed harder. You see, my son has Asperger's syndrome. I had spent his entire life teaching him to function and live in a world that was not really made for him. My life with him was focused on protecting him and advocating for him. Now, I was about to send him off into and environment where I would not be. I had to trust that he was adult enough to handle these things on his own. My anxiety and worry began a few months before he even left. Daily I would imagine some horrible scenario he might face. I dreaded moving day. Inevitably, moving day arrived and we packed the car and drove to his new life. As I left him in that strange city on his own for the first time I was filled with sadness and worry. Day after day he persisted on. He rarely called each week even though I reached out daily. Each time I talked to him he confidently exclaimed to me that he was doing just fine and having a great time. He was living his life and doing it on his own. He was fine. I did my job and raised him to function and succeed in a world that was often difficult for him. When summer came, he decided to stay in the city to work and continue to live his independent life. He spread his wings and soared."

'After a month of getting to know each other, my soul mate and I both hinted at our love for each other (her first, then me). Anticipation built throughout the day, until we finally dropped the "I love you" words at the end of the night.'

'One of the most striking events in recent memory was when I met my (now-ex) girlfriend in first-person shooter video game that we both play. Specifically, I am referring to the time we actually professed our love for each other. It was a rather special moment because we had been playing the game together for several weeks and she had been chasing me pretty hard during that time. I\'m kind of a celebrity in that game, and a bit of a ladies\' man, so she really wanted to pin me down! I know this sounds ridiculous, but gamers are very strange and weird! It was a powerful time, because I\'m an average looking guy (though I\'m at the top of the pack in this game we both played) and she is a beautiful woman. I guess that\'s "hypergamy" at work! It almost felt like I was winning the lottery and "too good to be true", even though I would never admit to that since you have to play it cool and casual! I thought she was playing me for some sort of benefit in the video game, but the more we grew close to each other the more I realized how organic it was. Finally my paranoia began to shed and the event happened. "I might be falling in love with you," she said. "I\'m thinking the same thing," I said. Later that night, when we said goodbye, it was a much more formal "I love you" exchange; I think we were both anticipating that moment, as it\'s a milestone of any relationship. I still remember all the matches we played that day, as well as the specifics of 99 percent of the Skype conversation (and subsequent voice chat). I won\'t get into the naughty details, but the entire day and night were burned into my memory. It was an important and genuine moment for both of us. Even though our relationship has since failed due to distance and drama, I still look back fondly and with no regrets.'

'I organized a science olympiad at school that was expanded by administration into including younger grade levels, and it was successful despite the challenges of setting it up. The success of the event led to me getting my original position back as a science teacher rather than a math teacher.'

'Two months ago, in a desperate attempt to get my position back, I volunteered to set up the science olympiad at school. I had been moved into the math department due to a lack of funding. I was desperate to get back into the science department. I was licensed to teach both subjects, but I hated math. And more importantly, my students hated math. I figured if I could pull off the olympiad event I might make a good impression on the superintendent. I started getting everything together and realized it was going to be a lot of work. I had to get enough kids to participate, get parents to help, and get donations. I was doing pretty well and then I got a phone call that the school had decided to include the younger grade levels as well. All the work I had just done had to be redone, and at three times as much. Somehow I managed to pull it off. The event went perfectly, the kids all had fun. I looked really good and I was anxious to see if the SUperintendent would notice. The next day at school I was immediately called into his office. He was so impressed with my organization that he decided I belonged in the science department! I could have my old position back effective immediately. I was so happy I could have cried.'

'Meeting the love of my life for the first time. Getting to know her in every single way. Feel all those feelings, the adrenaline rush that remained constant. Knowing she was real.'

"One week ago I was sitting at my desk at work when a woman walked by that I had never seen before. Immediately she caught my attention since I was very attracted to her, but I simply went back to my work once a moment or two had passed. I was writing an email to a coworker when she walked by again. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see that she was heading toward the break room. I decided that the email could wait so I decided to mosey on over to the break room myself to get a cup of coffee, and if she so happened to be in there then that would be just great. I walk in and notice her standing at the coffee machine pouring herself a cup. I walk up and wait for her to be done when she goes to get a packet of sugar to add to her coffee when she notices the container is empty. She doesn't seem to know where the extras are stored so I open up and tell her that the spare sugar packets are stored in the cabinet above the sink. She thanks me and walks over to the previously mentioned cabinet. She thanks me and introduces herself as Pam, and I nod my head and tell her my name is Tim. As I pour myself a cup of coffee, I remark that I haven't seen her around the office before and ask if she just started working here. She responds that she is actually just here for the week as she is running a training seminar for people in the accounting department. I feel slightly relieved by this since that means if something does happen between us it won't be an awkward office romance, but at the same time I was a bit upset because she was only here for a week. I grab myself a cookie and offer her one to go with the coffee she is drinking. She accepts. Seeing as how it's Thursday and she will be done with her training seminar tomorrow, I decide to go for broke and do something I normally never do. I just straight up ask her if she would like to grab some dinner sometime with me. She smiles and gives me her phone number and tells me to text her later so we can work something out. I add her number and smile and tell her I should probably get back to work, but if she needs any more help finding other condiments to come find me at my desk and I'll be happy to help. She laughs and says she will be looking for my text. I go back to my desk and resume writing the email, but this time in a much better mood."

'This was about the stress and anxiety that comes along with being a military family. There are moves and discussions of business.'

"Dear Diary, There has been so much change in the last six months. I went from having my own office, a wonderful group of friends and family close, to living in a state I am unfamiliar with and in a home that's new. We are a military family. Being a military family means making sacrifices for the greater good, even when that means distance from family or maybe even your spouse. This past year has been so hard. Driving across the country with a toddler and buying a home unseen were not things we thought we would have to do this quickly. We are now on our own. We have no family close and are trying our best to get settled in our new environment. Our son has begun preschool. He has blossomed in such a short amount of time. Although we miss our family and friends dearly, we are doing our best to plan visits. We have found a playgroup and even the dogs seems to be adjusting well. There have been a few attempts to start a business but those are continually halted due to anxiety. There are so many adjustments that will be made in the next few months. We will continue to work on the progress we have made as a family. We plan to work together to make this new place home."

'I was vacationing in Rome with my girlfriend of three years. Out of the blue, she proposed to me. She had this pre-planned and I was in complete shock.'

'Around ten months ago, I had mentioned to my girlfriend that I would love to see Rome. She told me that she has always wanted to go to Rome too and we should plan a trip there. For my birthday, a month later, she surprised me by giving me a gladiator toy. I asked her what was this and she told me it\'s a hint to what she got me. I stared at her like she had lost her mind and she told me "Rome? Do you remember that?" and I looked at the toy and she pulled out plane tickets for Rome! I was so shocked! I asked her when were we going and she said in July and I hugged her. Then in July, we went to Rome! We saw everything we could see! It was amazing. As soon as we got the Colosseum, she got down on one knee and asked me to marry her. I was like "What are you doing? Are you serious!" She asked me to marry her again and I said "OF COURSE!" She jumped up and hugged me! It was so special to us since we both love Rome. She told me later that as soon as she heard that was something we both wanted to do, she wanted to make it as special as she could.'

"This is a short recounting of the death of my daughter's father. It describes how suddenly someone can be taken away, and the how valuable we should make every minute. It is about rebirth and moving on with strength and love."

"My daughter's father was killed in a car accident a few months ago. He was traveling on the highway in early April. As we live in Michigan, we often experience sudden changes in weather during these months. At 70 mph, he hit a patch of black ice, skidded across the median and crashed into another car head on. He and others were instantly killed. I woke up to 4 sheriff's standing outside my door to tell my daughter and I the news. In the months that have passed, we have attended grief counseling - both group and family. We have managed to say goodbye and have come to terms with the suddenness of the situation. We are blessed to have an incredible support network of family and friends. Unfortunately, death always brings out the worst in some, and we have had to sever ties with some of the people we used to be closest to, but in the end, we do not need this toxicity in our lives as we rebuild and try to move forward. I know that he would want to be remembered, but not mourned. He would want us to move forward and make him proud. He wouldn't want us sad and depressed. We are trying to honor that in our words and actions. No one leaves this house without a hug, a goodbye, and an I love you. Life can change at any given moment. Lesson learned, Life."

"I had a lot of happy things with my buddies. I love them a lot. The give me a lot pleasures. My friend's wedding celebration and friends get to gather."

'Four month back, My lucky friend got married to the love of his life. It was a beautiful celebration of love. All of our friends received invitations and we all attended. It was funny how all of us buddies came together within short period of notification and we made it to the wedding regardless where we live. There were series of planned activities before the wedding. The wedding venue is on island and the couple were to tie knot on a boat. All of my buddies were there and we were so happy to catch up with with the time we spent separated from ourselves. We talked about our careers and family. Our views on different things going on around us. To be honest, they gave me alot of pleasure and that is the happiest i have been in ages. We share so much bond and brotherly love. It was a huge get together for each and every one of us. The couple got married and we all wished them a blissful marriage. We dine, wine and dance for the rest of the time after the coupe were pronounced. We realized how much we have missed one another when it was time for good bye.'

'How our bodies give us signs of distress and why we should not ignore them. How my husband ended up having open heart surgery.'

'About 4 months ago, my husband had to have open heart surgery. It started a few months before that, when he complained about how much his chest hurt when he would exercise. I just chalked it up to him getting older, and joked with him that that\'s what happens when you\'re an old man, trying to run with the young boys. I remember the 1st time I noticed it, it was 7 months ago. He had just come back from playing basketball. I laid on his chest and could feel his heart beating insanely quick; I\'m talking about it sounding like a "drum roll please" quick beat. I brought it to his attention but he just brushed it off as having a harder game today than usual. Things started going downhill quickly after that. 2 weeks later, he could barely walk up the stairs without being out of breath. I told him he needs to go to the hospital, the ER or something so they can at least listen to his heart with a stethoscope. He still refused, tried to pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary. Then, one day, he was so out of breath coming up the stairs, he passed out and ended up spraining his wrist. Thankfully he finally went to the hospital, and they examined his heart. Laying in the hospital bed, his breath suddenly became super heavy and labored, and one of the machines started making this really loud beeping noise. Doctors came rushing in, they ended up having to usher me out; they had to a CT scan/MRI on him. They found that he had 3 damaged heart valves, and because of that, his heart wasn\'t able to get enough of his oxygen in his blood to his lungs and every subsequent problem. He had to have emergency heart surgery. Recovery was expected to take 6 months, with very light exercise after 3 months. Only 2 more months left until he\'s fully recovered. Always listen to your body, it knows you best.'

"I say goodbye to my younger sister when she goes to college. I don't handle my emotions in a particularly healthy manner."

"My little sister is one of my best friends, and we'd been living together for about two years after I got out of college. But it was time for her to go to college, now, which meant that I'd be alone. I know it's kind of selfish of me to think of it that way, but I was really bummed. So I drove her down to her college, which is like ten hours away from where we live. The day we said good bye was... kind of disassociating, for me. I knew I should be sad but I didn't want to be, so I just kind of locked away all my feelings. I'd put together a video for her of all her favourite YouTube videos, so we watched that together before saying goodbye. She laughed and enjoyed it, and we had a good time. Then I drove her to a house where she was meeting some freshmen for lunch. I said goodbye and asked her if we could take a picture, and she teased me about taking a selfie (since I don't do that often). We look really good in the photo. I haven't posted it anywhere; it was mostly just for me. I like having something of her. But then we said goodbye, and I was trying really hard not to cry. So was she. But I was determined not to (I don't know why it mattered so much), and my throat hurt really bad from tightening so much. But I didn't cry, and she just teared up, and then we waved goodbye and I drove away. I kept thinking I should just let myself cry, but it seemed too much. So I locked it away and kept driving, and then within the hour, I was emotionless again."

'We recently took a trip out of state and it involved my immediate family. The purpose of the trip was because my son is a skater and he was part a competition there.'

'Around 6 weeks ago, my family and I had a trip out of state. It was the trip that involved my family. The main reason for this trip was my son. He was in a competition of skater. So, he needs to reach their and so were we out their to cheer him up. He was very much confident about her win and so were we. We were also very much happy to cheer him up. Great time for us. Our whole family was travelling and so there was a kind of mess and all the members were very much hyped and happy. We all lived up for the journey in a bus. It was a mini bus. After reaching their, we had a tent were we lived for around 36 hrs. Meanwhile, my son had a practice over their for couple of times and then the main competition started. My son came second. We were happy for that too. It was the proud moment for our family. We enjoyed very much out there.'

'This is entry is about the first day of moving in to the place of my partner, Celia, which also happens to be a move across the country. It goes through the emotions of walking through the door and having her give me the tour to the end of the night.'

'Walking through the small apartment, Celia had a huge smile, trying to hide a bit or nervousness, to show me her or now our apartment. We had spent some time together, but not much as we lived so far away and I decided to move in with her never having even been to her place. Around each corner she pointed out a room with little suggestions for what we would do in them. She had an adorable way of showing the room where she would have both hands in the back pockets of her jeans or one and one arm embracing me, while she lifted up on her toes just a bit as she ended her sentences. There was such joy in the air to finally be coming together and thinking of the possibilities that this flat would bring. This was not only me moving in with my partner, but this is the first partner I fully moved in with. All my other relationships had stages where we would spend 12 or 14 days together or spend the night 5-10x in a row at the same place, but I never got to the stage where we were moved in and officially living together. Not only was I making a big jump in my relationship, I was making a big jump in where I lived. I moved away from my friends and family to live with Celia. I did not know anyone in the city or region she lived in. She is just so wonderful that I had to make this big change and take a chance on the love between us. Later on that day, she would chop up a salad for us to have for dinner. That was a big deal as her old roommate told me that was a surprise that she "cooked" so much for me. It was a wonderful little meal and a sign of her trying to help me ease into the situation. Washing the dishes it really was settling in that I was in a new place that was beginning to feel like a home. After that we had our first Netflix and chill. We found a BBC series that we became completely addicted to. There while she was leaning up against to me the whole film as we found our little comfort spot on her small couch. There were no nerves then, except not to spill the wine. With her cat climbing over us, I was realizing that this was a place I would be for along time. While her head rested on my chest and she started to fade into sleep, I had found that comfort zone in the apartment very quickly.'

'I am currently in the process of retiring from the military but why retire? I had spent 20 years in the military but the day I came across a blown up bus filled with children was the day I realized I spent one day too many in the military.'

'I am currently in the process of retiring from the military after a 20 year career. If I had my way I would continue to serve for another 20 years but I realize I reached a point where I cannot go on. Several months ago I was overseas in a volatile region. We received word that an IED blast had gone off and that myself and the one other medic I was with needed to respond. We were anticipating maybe 1-3 casualties that could either be dead or wounded but what we came across I could never prepare myself for. The IED blast struck a transportation bus that was mostly filled with women and children. My partner and I immediately got out to assess the situation and begin triage but we did not know where to start. There were dozens of children. We could not see where one body ended and the next began due to the amount of torn flesh, blood, debris. Chaos instilled the situation with smoke, the moans and cries of the injured and the screams of pedestrians who rushed to the scene to assist. When you train in the medical field they make treating an amputation easy. You apply a tourniquet, pad the stump, then wait for transportation. I came across patients who had two hands and two feed but the area in-between resembled swiss cheese due to the shredded tissue. How do you wrap this? How do you even begin to stabilize it? At one point in the situation I was giving CPR to a young toddler that was cooked by the flames. I felt their bones break underneath my hands. I felt the flesh stick to my own. Even at this very moment I cannot shake the smell that the burnt flesh reeked of. I have seen and been through a lot in my 20 years in the military but the day I came across a bus filled with children blown up was the day I realized the military was one day too much.'

'Earlier this summer, my fiance and I went to a cheese festival. His mother decided to meet us there to spend the day with us. Many things went wrong, but it was very memorable and a bonding experience.'

"So about 7 weeks ago, my fiance and I went to a cheese festival. It was a beautiful early summer day. There was a light marine layer early in the day which cleared to sun. Billie's mom decided to meet us there and spend the day with us. The day had so many things go wrong. You would've thought that the gods were against us that day. The sun got really hot early in the afternoon. None of us brought sunscreen since we thought the marine layer would stick around through most of the day. All of us burned to nice red. And of course, can you imagine cheese, which must remain chilled, under the hot California sun? And cheese sitting in your stomach through such a hot day makes it very difficult to stay out of the bathroom. Of course the port-o-potty's were plenty nasty by the afternoon. Billie's mom had even accidently knocked an entire tray of Brei on the ground. The shopkeeper was not very happy at first. But we all ended up laughing it off. Despite all of the issues, it was a very memorable bonding experience."

"I had a big argument with my best friend. We haven't spoken since the argument. My feelings are really hurt because she doesn't seem to care."

'I broke up with my ex girlfriend. This is because she cheated on me. I am not sad because i have been looking for ways to breakup with her since she started acting strangely in the relationship. I told her friends and my friends and no one seems to be of help. That is why i took matters into my own hand. I do not feel bad about the issue at all, because i already found another girlfriend. And i believe had better attitude than my ex. she has a good family background. she came from a good home. she keeps good friends who are ready to give her good advice. I am going on a trip with her to Australia next week. I am going to have fun and shop because i will soon propose to her. I think she is the love of my life. and she will have my kids. I am sure my dad and mum will be happy to hear this good news. - happened 6 years ago.'

'Everything was something crazy but in the end we laughed at everything that happened in the story.the trip was incredible'

'I have a crazy story to tell I think you might like. It happened a couple weeks ago but I can not stop forgetting about it. I was hanging out with some of my girlfriends, and we all have kids. We planned a day where all mommies got together with our kids. It was a birthday party for one of the girls kids. He was turing 9 and they rented a huge waterslide for all the kids. After all the kids got to party on it for a few hours, we (as in the adults) took it over. We had some beer and we were going down, pushing each other down. It really was so fun. I was pushed down by one of my friends and I landed on my arm wrong and twisted my shoulder. It still hurts to this day! Im so mad at her, but she is my best friend. It was a crazy night, a fun day. The kids had so much fun at the party. We will always be friends and do stuff together.'

'My daughter, who I am close to, got married and moved from North Carolina to Canada about 4 months ago. She keeps in touch but I still miss her terribly.'

"I feel more and more lonely ever since my daughters marriage. It happened 4 months ago but it seem like an eternity. I like her husband and I glad for me. Nevertheless, they are so far away. They moved from North Carolina where she lived with us all the way to Canada. I think about the things we used to do everyday. For example, we used to go shopping together every week. We used to go to church together. I miss all these things. I miss her laughter and crazy sense of humor. I miss her facial expressions. I miss having her close to be able to run ideas by her. I miss her help around the house. I understand that I must let her go sometime. I just wish it wasn't so soon."

'This story is about my personal awakening and the realization that the American Dream for some is truly the American nightmare. In it I briefly describe my struggle with who I want to be with who I am truly am, all while trying to figure a way out of the day to day grind I have come to despise.'

'I recently came to the realization that most of what I believed in life was a lie. No one "lied" to me, but the American Dream, at least for myself, was filled with untruths. The idea, of course, if that if you go to college, get married, have kids, buy a house...etc, that you will experience a life full of joy. A short time ago though I realized that this was not the life for me. Of course I realized this too late. I already have a wife, kids, house and lots of college debt. I now spend my days working to pay interest to the same people who probably made up the story on how to be happy. So, in need of some relief, I traveled to south Florida to see an old friend. We talked - for hours - about the true meaning of life, its purpose, and what to do when you are unhappy. Some people say that if you are not happy in life, change it. Find another job. Move. However, if you are already in the society trap of the American Dream, escape is not so easy. Well, at least not if you have a conscious. There is a scene in the movie "Office Space" that really strikes home. In a moment of clarity, Peter, the main character, tell his psychologist that each day he wakes up is the worst day of his life. I feel him. My memorable event was not something that happened "to me," but an awakening inside me. I now find myself thinking about this each day, planning how I might change things, trying to find the courage to become the person I want to be, to live the life I have always wanted. Too bad I have been living the life others told me would make me happy.'

"The dog that I've had for years began having some health problems with his eyes. I thought they were serious, but they turned out to be benign."

'My dog "Hero" want only just a dog he was literally a close friend to me. He actually never made we feel lonely even after my brutal break up with my ex. i grow up to actually love hero a lot. Everyone absolutely love hero cause he wasn\'t mean. hero is the most friendly animal i have ever come across. Hero is actually the best pet in the whole of his history. About 6 weeks ago hero wasn\'t always as active as he used to be at first i wasn\'t really bothered, i thought maybe it was his mood or something. then his visual action was really getting serious. It was like his eyes are always closed anytime he is working, always breaking stuffs, having unnecessary injuries. At this point i was always trying to be cool with it until it got to the peak i couldn\'t contain it no more. i finally decided to see a "vet" doctor. AT this point i was really scared of what is going on with hero. The doctor examine him and founded out he had benign. i really didn\'t know what it meant at first. The was really too unfamiliar didn\'t know what to think. later, the doctor explain to me and i realized hero\'s illness wasn\'t as bad as i thought. the doctor gave hero some medicate and ever since his sight has improved a lot more'

'I took a vacation to the Florida Keys with my family. The drive there was long, but the area itself was beautiful.'

"Around my mother's birthday, we had all decided to take her to the Florida Keys for a vacation. She had always wanted to go to the beach for her birthday. We had gotten a great deal on some rooms for a hotel and just thought, this is perfect! The bad thing was that we had to drive down to Florida. We live in Minnesota. We rented a van, so we could all do together in one van. Packing about a weeks worth of stuff and fitting 4 people into a van was a task! We ended up fitting everyone comfortably and at three in the morning, started the long ride to the Keys. The drive seemed to take forever. It was filled with stopping and going. The traffic was a mess most of the way. So much of the roads we were on were being worked on, which meant that it was slow going. It took us 2 days to get there! Despite the mess of the roads and how long it took, it was worth the drive. We bonded and had a really great time!"

'I lost my job for working too much. I went into the hospital because I was having suicidal thoughts. I then moved back with my parents after I was discharged from the hospital.'

"Uggh, when will my life ever get back on track. First I got fired for working too hard. I kept coming in to get extra work done, but my boss didn't want to have to pay me overtime. I actually got fired for working too much. It's unbelievable. Then I felt so bad I thought I might hurt myself or kill myself. My parents realized that something was off and took me to the hospital where they realized I was suicidal. Now that I've been released, I'm moving back in with mom and dad. I can't believe that I'm living with my parents again at the age of 40. I feel like a failure. At least mom and dad still love me and were willing to take me in. I feel bad but I'm hoping to get back on my feet. If I can beat this depression, I want to go back to school and get training to be a nurse. That's a job that does pay overtime and can accommodate my hard work. Maybe they will appreciate me."

"I have a blood clot that determines how I live my life. It now determines what I can and can't do with sitting, standing, walking."

'It\'s been almost two months since I\'ve opened my journal here. What a roller coaster these intervening weeks have been. For the last 3 months I\'ve had intermittant swelling and pain in my leg. Joe finally convinced me to see the doctor, after my usual fuss about useless tests. Well, turns out (after several rounds of all those "useless" tests), they found a blood clot! So the good news and the bad news. They can\'t operate (well, I guess that is both good and bad, since surgery is not on my bucket list!.) They can treat it with medicine (ugh, but I should be, and kind of am, grateful for that.) But the real killer (bad choice of words!) is that I have had to make some dramatic changes in my life style. That\'s good and bad too I suppose. I needed to make some changes anyway, as I know since retiring I have been way too sedentary. But the tricky part is: I need to walk daily, but not too much. And, I can sit and stand, but not for long periods of time. (Guess I will scratch off my bucket list flying to Australia...or any flights longer than 2 hours.) On the one hand, I am so grateful that this is treatable, and honestly, probably NOT what I will end up dying from. On the other hand, it is one more thing that I have to think about... a lot. Seeing that my besetting sin is worrying and anxiety, this does NOT help. But, I do see that this trauma (okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic) no longer shakes my faith like such things used to. That sign of spiritual growth is encouraging. Joe and other family members have been really supportive, as has our church and our friends. And, as is always the case, I\'m praying and reading Scripture more. And, walking more and going to the gym. The most annoying thing is that I\'ve had to set my alarm to make sure I don\'t sit for more than 1/2 an hour at a time...and of course, I have to remember to set my alarm! And each day slips by so quickly that sometimes I forget (Joe calls it motivated forgetfulness...ha) to go take my twice daily walks. But, making progress, so a good, or at least, okay thing in the long run.'

'My son overcame a hard year in which he was labeled as difficult. He was recognized for his hard effort with an award.'

'A few weeks ago, my son one an award at school. This is a pretty big deal for many reasons. James had a tough year last year. For some reason the teacher labeled him as a difficult, talkative kid. James is so quiet and sweet this made no sense to me. So there was no way she was going to nominate him. However, his teacher this year recognized how sweet and kind he is. He tends to get walked all over so it is nice to see him be recognized for who he is. I am very proud that I have raised such a kind and helpful child. He was recognized for being a leader in the class. For helping his teacher and recognizing others good behavior and potential. He is always trying to help his fellow classmates. We went to the awards ceremony and my eyes filled with tears to see my shy, quiet baby getting recognized for all the good he has done. As a mother there is nothing better than seeing your child succeed. It may seem like a silly elementary school award, but I look at it and see how far he has come. I also see that in the future he will be the kind of adult I want him to be.'

'I was looking forward to my children going back to school. Once this day arrived, I became sad that all my children are in school.'

"I spent the whole Summer with my 2 children this year and we did many fun activities together. This year was different because neither of my twins wanted to go to Summer camp. They felt at age 13, that they were too old for camp. Because of this, I didn't get my usual 2 week break to relax and have some me time. The boys made a list of the things they wanted to do. We went to the Zoo one day. We went to an amusement park. We went miniature golfing. We rented canoes on a lake nearby. One weekend we went hiking. Another weekend we went camping. We went to a museum. And generally had a good time each day whatever we decided to do. I tried to keep the boys busy throughout each day so that they wouldn't be tempted to spend days on the couch playing video games. Or being on their computers. All in all we had a very nice Summer. The boys not only had fun, but they learned some things. I must say that as the Summer was coming to a close, I really thought that I was looking forward to them heading back to school. But once they went back, I really missed them and it made me sad. The house seemed very empty each day. Especially for the first month. I was surprised. I thought I so wanted my alone time. I eventually got back into my daily routine, but I was very thankful for the quality time we spent together. I am looking forward to next Summer and I am sure we will share many more adventures together."

'An unplanned for wedding ceremony of my secretive sister that happened 6 months ago and and was successful with a happy ending'

"Dear diary, today I talked to my sister. It's been about 6 months since her unplanned wedding ceremony. Thinking back to that day makes me happy to see how well her and her husband are doing now. I remember I had planned an engagement party for them. My mother and father had worked with me to set it up in our parents backyard. It was just a casual summer cookout. We let my sister and her fiance choose the list of people to invite. My sister and her fiance said they were running late. It was such a surprise to see a limo pull up to the house. My sister came out of the limousine with a wedding dress on and her fiance had a suit. So silly since the rest of us were in sundresses, flip flops, and cargo shorts. They surprised us all and had hired someone to do the wedding ceremony right then and there, at my parents house in the backyard. It was sneaky of her but ended up being such a blast. They had everyone they wanted to attend their wedding so they figured, why not just do it now! I'm very happy they got the wedding of their dreams even if it seems unconventional to some people."

'A long overdue manuscript was accepted for publication and all the hard work paid off. All the authors went out for a celebration and we had a great time.'

"A manuscript that I worked was accepted 4 months ago. I started working on it since 2015. It was very memorable because I have worked on it for so long that the acceptance for publication after rounds of rejections and resubmission was very emotion-inducing. We started out with a very high impact journal and went our way down. We added new data throughout the years. In addition, we also slightly changed the direction of the manuscript. We resubmitted the paper to a second high impact journal. Unfortunately, it was rejected as well. Eventually, everyone agreed that the manuscript has been improved a lot since the beginning. It was then accepted by a decent journal. Everyone who worked on the paper together went out for a celebration. We went to get Indian food. We had a great time! All our hard work paid off. It felt great because that was my first first-author paper. Since then, I've had 3 more and it felt great"

"W suddenly and unexpectedly found a home to rent in the country with horse favilities for my wife's horses. We are happy to be moving, but it's a lot of work at a hard time of year to be moving. We will miss our old neighborhood, but there are a lot of advantages to our new situation."

"We are now settled into our new country home after two weeks. It was a lot of work unpacking and taking care of the property but it was well worth it in the end. We now have a stall to put our horses and the meadows and vast scenery is beautiful. My wife's horse Bessie passed away earlier today so we buried her on the farm and had a funeral for her. Right now I am working on building chicken coops so we can get hens for eggs and I am planning on placing ducks in the pond out back so I can get duck eggs. We plan on raising our own eggs and beef cattle so we can avoid paying high prices for groceries. Everything is good despite a tragedy that occurred on the farm two weeks earlier in the pigpen. My sister went out to the pigpen one night to feed the pigs. I woke up in the morning and she was nowhere to be found. I went to the pigpen and found nothing but bones and a few teeth. The pigs had eaten my sister. I didn't want to deal with the police so I buried her bones in the meadow and had a memorial. This gave me an idea. I was tired of my wife running around and cheating on me with every man in town and I thought about killing her for awhile but I was worried about getting caught. If I killed her and fed her to the pigs they would eat her, bones and all and the police would never find out what happened to her. I am deciding on a day and time when to kill her and how I am going to kill her. I will keep you updated next diary entry."

'I got too focused on self indulgence, and I paid the price for it. I became overweight, and slipped further from my goals. But with through personal drive and accountability I was obtain to melt the pounds away and get on the right track.'

"It's been a long, tough, challenging road, but man it feels incredible to be where I am now. It's crazy to think about where I was 6 months ago. It feels like it was such a long time ago now. Things were so hectic, after the breakup, with the difficulties at work, and how much I was eating just to try to distract myself from everything. I couldn't believe the person I was seeing when I was looking in the mirror back then. Thinking about that, I can't believe the person I'm seeing when I look in the mirror now. It really took me hitting rock bottom, when I was struggling to walk up the flight of stairs at home and was dead out of breath for me to finally look at myself and try to get a plan together to turn things around. But I did it! Thanks to all the hard work and the support of my friends, family, and community I found myself a part of at the local gym, I was able to stick to my plan and turn things around. It got really challenging at times, especially early on when I wasn't seeing any results. It was tough to see all my friends enjoying themselves, throwing down pizza and ice cream and not being able to be a part of it. But it was worth sticking to my plan. Hey, maybe I'll be able to join them soon! I hope I can be an inspiration to someone else at some point. I want to write down all the steps I took, and all the thoughts that went through my head, especially early on. There were a lot of times I doubted myself, so I want to make sure I make note of all those things in case I can pass them forward to someone else some day. I'll be detailing all those thoughts and how I addressed them in my coming entries."

'I went to Yogyakarta Indonesia last month for thirty days. I had an amazing experience that pretty much changed my life. I loved the country and will be returning soon.'

"I love that trip to Indonesia. The people there are so beautiful. I love that dark island woman. They are so friendly too. They really like white men because of their being exposed to western media. So it's really cool. The woman all want to jump my bones and it really boost my confidence. Unlike here in America where women are inundated with a different kind of media. But that trip was so fun. I went to the beach a lot. And at the beach it's so nice, it's sunny and warm. Just the relaxing vibe defintiely changed my life forever and I was so happy to be with that place. It was soo nice. I really loved the nightlife too. The clubs are popping. The woman are super cute there and super friendly too. I love going out there."

'I took my kids to Florida on summer vacation. We visited my dad and stepmother. Then we were surprised with tickets to go to Walt Disney World.'

"My kids have never been more than a state away from home. I figured it was wrong of me to not take them on vacation at least once every couple years or so. I have so many good memories of vacations as a kid, so I wanted them to make memories as well. I decided to take them to Florida to visit my dad and step mom about 3 months ago. Normally they come visit us, so this was a surprise for them. I booked our tickets and we left the next week. The kids were so excited to go on an airplane, which was a relief. I thought they would be scared. When we got to Florida, all they could talk about was Disney World. I told them we weren't going there and we were just visiting family and going sight-seeing. Little did they know, I had bought tickets for the whole family. When we got to my dad's house, we all had a big dinner and dessert. When we were done eating, I went around the table and gave each of them a ticket. My kids went crazy. My dad told me there's no way he wasn't going to pay me back for these considering how expensive they were. Honestly, I was expecting that, as well as hoping for that. We all had an amazing time for about 10 hours. Then we went home."

'I received a promotion where I was finally offered a job in the finance department at my company. My father has been sick and I feel like I made him proud because I got my first real job and he has always supported me.'

"My father has been ill for a few weeks now and it's been getting our whole family down. My mom hasn't said anything, but I know she's worried sick about how she is going to be able to pay the bills while my dad is out of work. It's been a dark cloud over the house. Today things changed! I was finally offered a promotion at my job! This means I will be able to help them out for a change. My dad has always supported me and now it's my opportunity to return the favor. It feels so good to be recognized for all the hard work I've put in at my company. I think this is going to be a great start of a new beginning. My dad looked so proud when I told him about the promotion. He smiled so big and I felt so happy. I never want to let him down and I had been feeling like a failure lately. I know he didn't feel that way but I had such high expectations of myself because of him. I am feeling pretty good today. Here's to a new start."

'Several of my friends and I travel to Oregon to complete several hundred miles of backpacking within 3 weeks. To our misfortune we are lost even before we start the trail. With night approaching and not a soul in sight we are forced to find a way to the trail.'

"I can't believe I am finally writing this down, but it has been on my mind for so long now. Four months ago we left for our trip. We were heading to Oregon to hike the Last Nevering Trail. We had spent months planning for this and had brought all our supplies. The trip was going to take about three weeks and we were going to be backpacking over 200 miles. The trails were well developed but were totally removed from civilization. We were so excited and looking forward to this trip! However when we finally headed out we ran into a snag. We were supposed to be parking our car at a safe place that is reserved for hikers with permits, which we had. But we got a later start than intended and it was starting to get dark as we approached the trail head. I don't know if there were road signs missing or what, but we just couldn't seem to find the parking area. It was almost night time when we finally found it. We weren't sure if we should even start the hike, but after all our planning we didn't know what else to do. So we loaded up our gear and headed out. We ended up hiking late into the night, using our headlamps to light the way.. It was not how we planned it but it ended up being totally serene and amazing. The forest is so different at night compared to the daytime. The moon was almost full and this made it even more exceptional. We finally made camp around midnight, and all slept well. I'm happy to say that the rest of our trip went perfectly and we didn't get lost again."

'Such a beautiful event to be a part of. A lot of fun and emotional moments happened. At the end I talked about an embarrassing moment that happened at the event.'

"It was an honor being named best man. It was held at a beautiful venue with a waterfall as the backdrop. One thing that was very memorable were the vows. The bride's vow was very funny. While the groom's was very serious and emotional. It was kind of surprising because they are the opposite of them in normal life. Another memorable thing was the number of bridesmaids and groomsmen. There were 7 of each. The reception was also very fun. One disappointing thing was the food. It was somewhat bland. A lot of simple foods. My embarrassing moment was the best man toast, I accidentally did it too hard and broke the glass. I froze for a second in embarrassment. Overall, it was a very fun time. I had a blast dancing that night."

'I lost my dog. We had to put her down because of her suffering. She was such a sweetie. It was painful but we carried on.'

"I recently lost my dog Shelby. It was devastating. Even though we had her for 14 years, we are still at a loss. She lost control of her bladder and kept pooping up blood and foam. She quit eating. She did not want to walk. We had to force her to walk. She couldn't walk more than 2 or 3 steps at a time. The vet told us that it was up to us to decide when she should go. It was a difficult decision. Was the time right? I still don't know. I was so sad about her suffering. She was a great dog. I miss her companionship. I loved her so much. The house is not the same without the pitter patter of her tiny feet."

"I was trying to have breakfast in restaurant, and some rando kept trying to talk to me while I was working on my phone. I made it clear I wasn't interested and he had a meltdown that ended in a racist rant that ruined my day."

"Nearly two months ago, I had an unpleasant runin with someone at a restaurant. I was just minding my own business, eating breakfast and catching up on work emails. My day started out pleasant enough, as it was early in the day, quiet and peaceful. Then I notice some guy sits at the next booth and I sigh, annoyed that he doesn't seem interested in adhering to the basic social tenet of giving other people space in an otherwise large and empty restaurant. I can see out of the corner of my eye that he keeps turning his head to look back at me, and I brace myself for the inevitable encounter, probably another panhandler or some desperately lonely person looking for any type of social interaction, even with a complete stranger. My second theory turns out to be true, as he repeatedly turns in his seat to talk to me, succeeding in his attempts at insipid small talk while I give terse, disinterested answers. I live in the vain hope that my body language and preoccupation with my phone will eventually discourage him. I go to take a bite out of my breakfast sandwich and he turns around again, offering to buy me breakfast as he watches me chew. I stare at him, befuddled, finish chewing, swallow, and tell him no thank you before turning my attention to my phone, typing pointedly. He turns back, then minutes later turns back to me, and starts telling me a story about buying bread the other day. I have had it. I tell him I'm really not trying to be rude, but I'm just trying to eat my breakfast and take care of some work stuff. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, sorry. He recoils, looks offended, and he repeatedly turns in his seat, then back at me petulantly, ranting about how he was just trying to be nice, he was just talking to me, I can't even be decent enough to talk to him? Because apparently I owe him conversation. I explain to him that I don't really care and to leave me alone. I can see a couple employees of the restaurant had sat down at one point, on break and/or checking in to see what was going on. I can see them watching quietly, trying to see if this escalates to the point where they need to intercede...again. Because this is not the first time something like this has happened to me at this place. That's right, this is the second time in the last six months or so that I've gotten into an argument with a man who wouldn't leave me alone when I told him to. Apparently, he's had his fill, because he scrambles out of the booth, grabs his backpack, and starts retreating to the exit across the building. Again, he turns to walk away, stops, turns back to me, turns to walk away, turns back, rinse, repeat. As he does this little dance, he peppers in accusations of my being mentally ill, my needing to see a psychiatrist, oh, and also racist invective and the classic demand that I go back to where I came from. And the day started out so nicely. Thanks, random stranger."

'I went white water rafting about a month and a half ago with the clients of my work and my coworkers. It was a very memorable experience and I had a lot of fun.'

"About a month and a half ago, I went white water rafting. It was the event I had the most fun with this year. I went with my clients from work and also some coworkers. It was at a river about 3.5 hours away from where we live. It was a very memorable experience. I work at a halfway house for men being released from jail/prison with substance use issues, and it is privately ran by a church and there is another house under the same church for women, which is our sister house. I have never been white water rafting before but my girlfriend has and both of my parents have been. I have been wanting to do something fun like this for a while because it has been a while since I did something extraordinary. The car ride was long but worth it and the day started out nice and warm, but as soon as we got to the destination, the temperature dropped and clouds started rolling in. The destination was also northeast farther upstate. When we arrived, we all changed and checked in. We had 2 vans full, 1 for each house, and about 2-3 car fulls of people as well. Everyone put life vests on and either wet suits or wet shoes. We all headed out to the water after teams were made and we got into our assigned boats. Each boat had an instructor who taught us how to paddle and when, by his direction. It started to rain as soon as we got in the water and it was only about 50-55 degrees fahrenheit. I'm running out of time for this study but the rapids were extremely high and fast for the season. It was a crazy experience and I almost fell out of the raft a couple times, and some people who I know did fall out. We took a break halfway through and after it was done, the workers grilled food for the people who rafted."

'I ran away from home to live a hedonic lifestyle. After a few weeks of living in my truck, I rented a motel, but quickly ran out of money. Finally, I drove to a parking lot where I stayed for a few more days until I was finally pulled over and arrested by police.'

'The most memorable event in my life in the past 6 months has been when I "ran away" and tried to just live life on my own. I had recently been fired from my job, which was extremely depressing to me, and I fell into a depressed and low-energy state. I had been living with my mother for the last 6 months, and after being fired, I told my mother I\'d be moving out at the end of the month due to my new bad habits, mainly involving drinking. On the first of March, I drove my truck away from my mother\'s house, not to return for over 7 weeks. At first, I felt liberated - I knew I was homeless, but I had the freedom to do what I want, and didn\'t have anyone telling me what to do. I spent the first few weeks simply living in my truck, communicating with friends on the phone and generally just living a hedonic, isolated lifestyle. Eventually, I found it hard to even start taking care of my own basic needs (finding a bathroom, a safe place to park at night, etc.) and drove to a motel. Life living at the motel felt great - I finally had a warm bed to sleep in, a place where I felt safe - and each morning when I got up, I would rent one more night. I ended up staying at this motel for about 3 weeks. Unfortunately, I started this adventure with $3000, and by the time early April rolled around, I found I had less than $300 left in my bank account. At this point, I drove even further away from the city, to a Wal-Mart. I spent a few days and nights there, doing the same things - charging up my phone at the local starbucks, drinking, etc. To me, I felt like I was running out of time, and didn\'t know what to do. I was getting sick nearly every day. Finally, I realized I needed help. I tried to drive back in to town to check myself into a hospital, but halfway there, I was pulled over by a state patrol officer. I was handcuffed for driving under the influence. Thankfully, I was cooperative and polite with him, and he agreed to drop me off at the hospital, where I stayed for five days. My adventure was over.'

'My son got sick and was hospitalized over the fourth of July holiday. He never listens. Now well be bankrupt.'

"Seven weeks ago, my son got sick. He had to go to the hospital. This took place on the 4th of July. He held the firecracker for too long and got severe burns on this arms. This was very sad to see. I gave him a big hug in the hospital. The doctors' say that it will take a month to recover. We are poor and can't afford the bill. This will leave us impoverished. I hope my wife can get a raise at her job. We really need the money now. We will have to beg our friends and family for some money. They should give us some. I hope it will be enough to survive on. I will definitely teach him to be careful from now on."

"When I was in my first marriage and facing the Why isn't this marriage enough? question myself, I had some soul-searching to do. I began where it felt easy: by blaming my husband."

"I have been doing some serious reflection the past week. The dissolution of my first marriage has been weighing heavy on my mind. I was never happy. That is what it comes down to. I wasn't happy in my marriage. I wasn't happy at work. I wasn't happy period. I couldn't figure out why I was so miserable. My husband was great. He tried so hard. But eventually I just blamed him. I started being nasty. I pushed him away all the time. I hated when he did nice things for me. I hated everything, even the things that had nothing to do with him. Sometimes I wonder if I could go back in time and be kinder if things would have ended differently."

'In my last week at my previous job, my colleagues threw a surprise farewell party at a local microbrewery. I received cards, gifts, and even cakes. I was really thankful of my managers, colleagues, and my time at the company.'

"A few months ago, I decided to resign from my job. In my last week at work, my coworkers decided to throw a surprise farewell party for me. We went to a local microbrewery. My boss decided to cover the drinks. Some of my colleagues also ordered pizza. I spent times talking about my next endeavor with my colleagues. We took group pictures. My manager gave a speech. I also had a chance to do so and thanked everyone. I was given cards, farewell gifts and cakes. I was quite sad leaving because everyone was very collaborative and my work environment felt like a family. Also, I moved to a different city, and probably won't be visiting in a while. I was glad that I was able to talk to almost everyone and people were supportive of my decision. I was also glad that everyone seemed to be having a good time. I still had good memories about my previous job."

'My band was booked to play at the House of Blues venue in Orlando. It was a memorable point of my musical career. I will not forget how great this gig was!'

"As a musician it is one of my dreams to play at the House of Blues venue in Orlando. I have wanted to play here my entire life. When my friend, who is the singer in my band told me our Tom Petty tribute band would be booked to play here I was ecstatic. This was a dream come true for me. Tons of famous bands have played here and the stage and sound are the best of the best. When I first got to the venue, I was greeted by the staff who helped us haul all of our gear. We then sound checked and went upstairs to the green room to eat our dinner which was supplied to us. The green room had drinks, couches and snacks. It was incredible. I felt like I was a professional musician! After we all got dressed up to play, I was a bit nervous because I found out that this venue was almost a sell out show. Once we hit our first note, the light shined on all of us. I saw the joyous crowd and it made me especially happy. We totally rocked everyone's face off. We all took a bow and the fans screamed for us to do an encore. We came back on the stage, and played through one of our finest versions of American Girl. After this was done, we thanked the crowd and shook hand with the many people. When the show was done, I was tired but felt accomplished. It felt like I achieved something in life. This marked a major highlight of my musical career. All of the guys in my band were all proud of each other. When we got packed up, we celebrated the show by going out to eat. It was a good thing that we filmed most of it so that we can all look back on what we did. This is something I can show my future wife and kids what I did in my life."

'My feelings around bringing my daughter to school started off pretty stressful in the couple of weeks prior. I saw her mood drop and her not act as herself as she stayed home more to appease us. I then decided that is not who she is and how I want to see her and it worked out very well.'

"The weeks leading up to my daughter going off to college were kind of stressful and there was some anxiety about the limited time we had with her at home. I recall the day we left for her move in day. i thought it was going to be tear filled and sad, but there was more excitement and forward thinking on the way out to Buffalo NY. She was excited to start her new life away from the day to day home life and start moving towards her academic and professional goals in he new life going forward. We found that she joined a couple of groups at school related to her chosen pre-dental profession and related academics in sciences and math. She also is involved in a networking group to stay up to date on changes and trends in dental fields and orthodontics. i'm excited for her and happy to see her drive and ambition so early on in her collegiate career. As we reflected back on the month or so building up to moving her off to school, my wife and I seemed to realize that our feelings, though justified, were more about how we felt and our anxiousness about her leaving and not really about how she felt and what her ambitions are, I am glad we found that she was looking forward to this new life and that she was nervous like us but seems to have it under control. She has a roommate and other friends in the same pre-dental studies and they work well together and have a study group. That makes me proud as a parent and glad to see that my worries were for nothing and she is so well adjusted to college life. High school seems so long ago and the strides she has taken in the past couple of months are impressive. Maybe it is because of necessity but nonetheless she is ahead of the curve related to others I have seen and heard about at her stage of the game. As parents we have gone from worrying stressed out and nervous people to proud and excited parents. The transition has been painless and she has led the way without our interaction. I think the most impressive part is that she is not the same person at school as she is at home. She is very quiet, sort of lazy, and not proactive at home and it seems she is the ultra opposite away at school. I would like to say it is like that for most parents a they see their oldest grow up fast and do well but some friends and neighbors have some stories that would make me cringe at what they tell me if it is true."

"My cousin's wife texted me, revealing that my conservative relative was leading a double life. It turns out that he identifies as trans and has been cheating on her."

"I got a text from my cousin's wife who I'm pretty good friends with literally like an hour ago. We BBQ a few times together each summer as they are local and we used to actually work together as well. She did the unthinkable and looked at his phone apparently. She thought he was maybe messing around with another woman. When she checked his phone, he left his browser open to a hookup site. She saw him wearing a dress and identifing as trans and is wanting to hook up while shes out of town. So she immediately texted me about it. I wish she hadn't even confided this to me. I don't know what to think. I defriended him on Facebook because hes a very vocal Trump supporter and we have argued about gay marriage. Hes very against what he considers anything other than traditional marriage to the point I just couldn't talk to him anymore. He's also a huge racist. As I'm sitting here, my phone has an unread message on it from her and I don't even want to read it. On one hand, I'm very angry about this dual nature of his and I hope she dumps his ass, on the other, if he didn't have an extreme view that hes presenting to the world, Id tell her maybe she just needs to have a long conversation with him about this and figure it out. I kinda just want to ghost both of them to be completely honest."

'After a routine dental cleaning on my dog I received a very worrisome phone call from my vet explaining her lymph nodes were enlarged. this whole process and situation lasted about 2 weeks long. I had many sleepless nights.'

"About 3 months ago I brought my dog in for a regular teeth cleaning. This was a routine visit where they put her under anesthesia and clean her teeth. As soon as I arrived back home I was contacted by the vet. she proceeded to tell me my dog's lymph nodes were enlarged. I had no idea what this meant. She proceeded to explain to me that it doesn't mean anything good. there's something wrong with my dog. Her lymph nodes are working hard and that's why they are so enlarged. She suggested I get a find needle aspiration done to her lymph node to have it tested right away. I had to wait a few days only to find out it was inconclusive. I had to bring her back in for minor surgery so they could pull a piece of lymph node out and test the tissue. One full week later and a lot of worry and sleepless nights I get a call. she's not sick. She doesn't have cancer. She has a rare deformity that even the vets can't even explain fully. I was told it doesn't mean anything bad. I've never felt so relieved in my life. One of the best days ever."

'Car accident where the plaintiff did not admit his fault. It could be very serious accident with injuries. The driver at fault was a very irresponsible, dishonest man.'

"Two months ago, My friend was traveled to my home town by drove a car with my old grandfather. He was around 80 at that incident. In order to enjoy the scenarise along the road side my friend Sam car speed was around 60 km/h. They enjoyed their travel very much. Unexpectedly one car was with high speed without any control which missed it track and hit Sam's car opposite to them. Sam's car was crushed badly. Due that accident my grandfather had many injuries and fractures. His left arm joint was replaced and his left side hip bone was completely broke. He lost his conscious and Sam had many inner bleeding in his body. They two was immobile due to that drastic hit. With in a few minutes Sam was gained his energy and checked my grandfather condition. People rushed and help them to escape from my car. But wonderfully opponent car had no major damage and the driver was free from injuries. He made huge mess on our life but he does not asked any sorry towards us. Sam decided to sue over driver reckless drive. That person looked like criminal with dishonest quality. He seemed irresponsible and cold heart fellow."

'My fiance and I got married after almost four years of dating. We had a Catholic wedding and then spent time eating and socializing with family members and other loved ones.'

"I recently married my fiance. We had been dating for three years, closer to four. We had our wedding at a Catholic church in our city with a small gathering of loved ones. Afterward, we all gathered at his mother's house for the reception. Food included meatballs, pasta, casserole, pepperoni bread, and cheesy potatoes. We got a series of cupcakes instead of a large wedding cake. The flavors were orange chiffon, Italian ribbon, chocolate chocolate chip, and milk and cookies. We spent hours socializing before going back home for the night. We stayed up until about one in the morning. It was great snuggling up in bed with him for the first time. Several days later, we're still snacking on wedding leftovers. In a little while, we're returning the cupcake stand to the bakery and I'm giving the chef a thank you card. I have several thank you cards that have been written and sealed and many more left to write and seal. I want to make sure everyone who played a major role is properly thanked. Family members, the jeweler, the tailor that helped with my dress, and the tuxedo rental store that loaned a suit to my husband are on the list."

"A went on vacation to my cousin's house in Tennessee. They had a large house and we played a lot of games and it was a fun time."

"About a month ago I went on a vacation to my cousins house. She lives in Tennessee. Her house is huge! There was a lot to do there but mostly we played games. I have never had so much fun and I want to go back and see her again. Maybe she will come a visit me too We won't have as much fun at my house because I live in the city and there's not much to do outside. But we could visit some interesting places like museums and parks. Or maybe go to the zoo. One thing I can say is we have a lot of great places to eat here. At her house her mom cooked mostly vegetables grown from the garden. And eggs from the chickens she raises. It was fun and sometimes I wish I could just live there with her. Maybe during the summer I could live there. And in the winter I could have her come here. She would like that because she would get a chance to play in the snow. She doesn't get much in Tennessee but I do here!"

'Took my son fishing for the first time in his life. We went fishing in Clearwater, FL on the huge pier there. My son caught multiple fish and I was very proud and happy to have gone on this fishing trip with him.'

"When we crossed the water for the first time over a giant sequoia bridge in Clearwater, FL, I saw a decent fish just sitting in an eddy of the rock-strewn bottom. I got excited because that meant there might be decent fishing. We finish our hike (looping back to this bridge again) by mid afternoon. I get my stuff out and rigged up and start tossing bugs. Every offering, this fish beneath the bridge would short strike but never take. I switched to an ant and had my son grab it and let go. I figured it was time to let him cool down because I thought I could catch him on that pattern, but he had seen it too much to take it at that point. I went downstream, fishing the seams and holes I could find. As I walked downstream surrounded by these sequoias 40 feet around, I came to this pool at the end of a run. It looked fishy. You know what feeling when you're fishing new water but you get to a spot and laugh to yourself that if there's no fish in there you might as well pack it up now? It was that king of spot. I toss out my ant pattern from before, right at the bottom of the run before it opens up into a slow slow drift over a hole that was at least three times deeper than any hole I had seen up to that point. I look down to manage my line and prepare for a couple of mends to get that fly to drift perfectly through that hole. When I looked up I saw the silhouette of what would be considered Jaws in this tiny stream. He was nearly at my fly and then he pounded that thing. Not some measly sip. This big boy knew how to eat. I got a great hookset and it was game on. Within the first ten seconds this fish had launched itself two full body-lengths out of the water three times. It was an absolute rocket. It had all the room in the world to swim down because the pool was so deep, and then launch itself straight out of the water like it was straight out of Cape Canaveral. My son had assisted me by pulling the fish out of water, we had both fell back and on the dock. After we finished fishing, we went back home where my wife made dinner and my son was just smiling because he had a great time."

'My son moved into college. It was a big life changing event and affected me more than I though it would.'

"A couple of weeks ago my son went off to college. This was, of course, always our plan for him and we worked together as a team to make sure he got the grades to get into a good school. I also saved money as best I could to pay for college and we worked together to get him scholarships and grants. I was so proud of him when he got into a college he really wanted to go to, and we spent the summer getting everything ready for him to start this next chapter of his life. A few days before he left I started feeling sad, knowing I would miss him. It's just the two of us, so my house would feel empty. But I was also excited to start my next life chapter. We made the drive to school a fun road trip of a few days to spend some last time together. But wow. Now that he's been gone I can't believe how much I miss him. I'm really crushed to have him gone. I feel kind of guilty about this and hide it from him when he calls or texts to check in. He does miss me, too, of course, which is natural for all kids going off to college. I tell him I miss him, and I actually make up things to tell him that I'm doing (but I'm really not doing them). I stay home and just be sad that he's gone. This is crazy! My whole goal raising him was for him to become a competent adult who would leave me and go off and pursue his dreams, so why am I so darn sad?? Maybe I should go talk to someone? I have things I can do, I just need to get out of the house and do something productive. I'm really looking forward to the holidays when he's back home again. But I think I need to work through these overwhelming feelings and actually start living my new life so we have something to talk about when he's home. He'll have stories for me about college and all of his new experiences and I should be able to hold up my end of the conversation. Time to get moving and living again!"

"While on a trip to Walter Reed for my husband's back surgery, we got to spend a day exploring downtown Washington D.C. We saw several national monuments, and genuinely appreciated it more than I expected to."

"So we took a trip to Walter Reed for my husband to get his back surgery. He hurt his back while at work, and had to get surgery for it. The surgery isn't going to be cheap either, so it's going to take a huge chunk out of our payroll. I wasn't happy at all to hear that. But he needed to get it done, so I don't get a choice. When we got there we spent a day exploring the downtown Washington D.C. It was huge! And it was nice exploring it. We had fun. A lot more fun than I thought that we would have. We saw some national monuments, and they were amazing. Just the best. I thought the trip was were worth it. It was just that great of a trip. I'm glad we went."

'I was contacted of the sickness of my father who had not really been in my life. I got to spend more time with him in his latter days then I had my entire life. Later, what ensued was a disastrous set of events including a surprise funeral without a body.'

'Dear diary,It has been a painful three months, so I hadn\'t had the opportunity to write in you as the events happened. I will recount what unfolded below."Dad is dying". These words made me sick to my stomach as my brother called me. He had never been a part of my life, but I was always fond of the memories I had with him when I was a child up to the age of seven, when the divorce happened. This man who I missed, but barely knew. And now he wasn\'t long for the world. I made it to the hospice they kept him at. Coming into the room, I stared at the frail figure reclining on the bed before me. A well of sadness for the pitiable man came up through me, and I pulled up a seat beside him. We talked when he came to, and during the next two months we talked for the most we had ever had, even more than we had when we were a family. I didn\'t want to bring up his mortality as I imagined he would have wanted to talk about other things, so I did my best to get to know the man, his passions, his regrets, his proudest moments. I had gotten back to the hotel where I stayed when I got the call that he had passed away. I didn\'t feel much emotion at the time because I had expected it. Then came another call, a frantic one."Where\'s Dad?" Did they lose the body? Before I could respond, "Oh I was at the wrong room." My brother had been drinking. The funeral had been set for last week, open casket. But furiously, they had a problem with the embalming, so closed casket it was going to be. At the end of the funeral, as the other pallbearers and I went to pick up the coffin, it felt strangely light. Too light, as in empty light. Frantic, we opened up the casket, and Dad was missing. We\'re still looking for him.'

'My father died recently and fulfilled a promise to me in a dream I had. He was spirit and came to prove the afterlife to me.'

'I was sleeping about a week after my fathers death and dreaming heavily. My experience dreaming heightened to some kind of new reality to where the dream felt ultra real and everything brightened. When I was younger I was into church and God but my dad was not so much. He told me when he passed he would come back to let me know if there was an afterlife. I was not able to see him before he died but everyone else did. I could not make it because of bad driving conditions. After his visit when I spoke to him on the phone he told me he did not think he had to much longer on earth and he needed to see me before he passed but this did not happen. Everything turned hyper-real and my dream quickly switched to a room with yellow walls and a bed. I was sitting on the bed sitting facing someone dressed in bright white robes. I looked and it was my deceased father. He was around 30 years old, smiling widely with mouth closed, and looked the greatest and happiest I have ever seen him. He had no eyes but there were wisps of smoke that I clearly felt as his spirit floating around inside his head. He was telling me he was spirit now and confirmed the afterlife to me. This makes me very satisfied and in awe of "source". "Source" is the word I use to refer to GOD.'

'My fiancee told me that we are expecting our first child. We spent time together doing some reading and scheduling and planning for our future.'

"My fiancee, Rebecca, revealed to me that she's pregnant. I can't get over how excited she is. Though I have to admit I'm not as excited. We spent a lot of time looking over baby books and looking over our finances. She doesn't make very much and we rely heavily on my income to pay for most things. She didn't seem too worried. I think she should be. Babies cost a fortune to raise, or so I've been told. I don't think she has any idea. There are a lot of things she has no idea about, things I haven't told her. I've been holding on to a secret for years now. I have been too afraid to tell her because I wasn't sure how she would react. Now I have no choice. I've been reading baby books and planning with her just to buy time. Now I have to tell her the truth, that I'm infertile. My world has fallen apart."

'I visited to Stonehenge in Avebury Plain, England. They have a wonderful visitor center and gift shop. There is a replica Neolithic village and a small museum as well.'

'I spent four weeks in Europe a few weeks ago touring Italy England. While I was in England, My companion and I decided to visit London to see all the sights. We took the tour bus around the city and viewed many famous settings. I was very impressed by the design of the old and the new buildings I viewed while on the ride. We had a fantastic guide who not only gave history on all of the things pointed out, but he also suggested other places to go to see many more historic items. I was very impressed looking at Big Ben and the square surrounding the area. After seeing Big Ben in person, I could easily see why it was called Big Ben. We were fortunate enough to be in the open top portion of the tour bus so we had many unrestricted views. I really loved seeing all of the beauty of Buckingham Palace. It was not only large, but it fit so well with many of the other structures in the area. Sure looked like someone knew what they were doing when it was constructed. We decided it would be a great thing to do to go on the London Eye . We were not wrong as the view of the city from the top of the Eye was just spectacular. I could have stayed on the Eye for many, many hours. Another of the interesting things to see was the Tower Bridge. I found it very interesting to see the steam engines that were used to raise the bridge. The final stop on our time in England was our visit to Stonehenge in Avebury Plain. We toured the facility, visited the gift shop, the museum and completed our day viewing the Neolithic Village. The trip was fantastic and I would surely go back again.'

'My First baby boy was born on June 5th. This is the most memorable event of my life. My son arrived in less then 2 hours. It was very emotional for me when holding him.'

"I'd like to document the most memorable thing that has ever happened to me before I forget the details. Four months ago, I gave birth to my first child. I had a baby boy on June 5th. My husband and I decided to keep the sex a surprise, so we didn't find out that it was a boy until the birth. My husband thought it would be a boy, and I thought it would be a girl, so I was very surprised! The labor was extremely fast for being a first child and I almost didn't make it to the hospital in time. I started having contractions at home and my husband rushed me to the hospital. Unfortunately there was no time for an epidural so I felt everything! My sweet baby boy arrived a couple of hours after labor started. I will never forget the moment when they put him on my chest and I got to hold him for the first time. It transforms you. I have never felt that much love in my life. All in all it was a positive experience. Even though he came so quickly and I was in a lot of pain. The recovery went pretty well, and we were released from the hospital the next day. I love my baby boy so much."

'I attended a rally for presidential candidate, Andrew Yang. He instilled belief in me about the future of the country.'

'The event I went to was a democratic political rally. The candidate at the event was in Downtown Los Angeles at a park. I had seen many interviews with him online before I attended the rally. I started to believe in his vision when I heard him on podcasts. I had never gone to a political event in my life but was really encouraged to attend this one. A big reason that motivated me was the fact that he was spreading a message that was so profound but no one else knew about. He had no political background so his name recognition was next to nothing. I didn\'t want to tell too much people about it because I didn\'t think that they would care enough to come with me. I only told one friend who I knew would be interested. The scene at the rally was amazing. It included so many people from different backgrounds. I\'m not religious at all but it felt like we were listening to the words of our savior. Everything he said made so much sense. As the event ended, the crowd cheered "ANDREW YANG". There was so much energy on the train ride back home. I never knew that politics could be that impactful.'

"I visited family in Florida. I met my brother's baby daughter and my dad's new girlfriend. We ate, drank, explored, and had fun."

'My brother just had a baby girl, so I decided to surprise him and visit him and his family. It was great to be able to go there and see everyone. We really had a great time! The baby looks just like him and has his eyes. He said that everyone thinks the baby looks like her mom, but I don\'t see that. While I was at their home, my dad came over to visit as well. He was shocked to see me! Not as shocked as I was to see him with another woman! I introduced myself to her and my dad said "This is my girlfriend." I raised an eyebrow to that one since he had just gotten out of a relationship. She seemed really nice and my brother said that she was a great woman. I thought if she was a perfect fit for my dad, then she can\'t be that bad. I just hate seeing him go in and out of all these relationships. After a while, we ate and laughed and I felt like I had known her for years! She was telling me about a cove at the beach that was so beautiful and peaceful. She loved to go there to sit and think. I told her that sounded wonderful and that I\'d have to see it before I left. The next day, we went to the cove with my dad and his girlfriend. She knew the perfect spot! I can\'t even believe that all this time we were that close to that place and never visited it!'

'My summer working in the Florida Keys. I experienced a lifestyle, people, and environment I will never forget.'

'About 5 months ago I received a call from an employer for a job I had applied for. I was traveling through Florida and the call was for a position in the Florida Keys. I had always dreamed of spending some time in time in the Keys and this was the perfect opportunity. I accepted the job and began work shortly after arriving. I was impressed with the scenery and the wildlife in the area and I was exposed to this due to the fact that I worked outdoors. I was surrounded by a lot people all of the time. I made many new friends and made a lot of memories. I enjoyed time on the water, under the water and attended many social events. I was able to help with the social events by setting up and working booths, and helping people. I spent a lot of one on one time with new friends who were always good about seeing that I was enjoying myself and the environment. I enjoyed many boat rides and went scuba diving and fishing. Everyday brought new experiences. One day at the boat ramp I spotted a pelican standing in front of a truck that was pulling a boat out of the water. The truck driver seemed annoyed by the bird and was going to force it out of the way with his truck. I walked right up to the bird and realized something was wrong with it. I carefully pick it up and moved it out of harms way. A couple of us then arranged for the wildlife department to pick the bird up and care for it. It was a very up close and personal experience. I would end most of my days in the Keys by watching the sunset. They were like none I had ever witnessed and I think they are one of the things I will miss them the most.'

'My partner and I were approved for our first apartment. It was a lot of work to prepare for the move.'

'My partner and I made a big move to our first apartment about 6 months ago. It was a ton of work preparing for the move as well as the move itself. I\'ll never forget it because this was a huge milestone in our lives and our very first big move. We had to start by packing boxes of our lesser used items many weeks in advance. We then started to shop around for furniture, as this was our first move to our own place. The shopping was a lot of work itself because we had no idea what theme or look we were going for. We also were on quite a bit of a budget so it was tricky finding nice furniture within our price range. When the moving date got closer we had to decide whether we would use a moving company or rent a Uhaul. Fortunately my partner\'s father agreed to drive a Uhaul to our new apartment an hour away. When our big day finally arrived we had a lot of loading to to! I was surprised at just how much of a work out I would get from all the lifting. We made multiple trips to and from our new apartment loading and unloading. The rest of the day then consisted of setting up as much furniture as we could. As night drew near only my partner\'s mom was still over to help clean and unpack some things. After she left, the most memorable moment of the whole move happened. My partner and I turned to each other and both whispered "we did it!" as we got to enjoy our new home together, just her and I, for the first time.'

'I recently spent a few months studying abroad and moving to a new country, Belgium. While it was a very hard transition for me at first, I eventually learned to love my new home.'

"I recently moved to Belgium to study abroad. I remember how scared I was the day that I went to the airport. My parents were crying, and even though I wanted to be strong, I bawled like a little baby. I felt sad to be leaving home, and scared about diving into the unknown. I didn't know anyone I would be living with. I didn't know the language, the customs, or the culture. I was confident in my ability to adapt, but how could I not be scared? I remember crying some more as the plane took off into the night. When I finally arrived, the next few days were some of the hardest I've ever had in my life. I felt alone, unsure of myself, and overwhelmed by the transition. My new room was big but felt empty. But after about a week or so, I met one of my roommates who had just moved in. We immediately hit it off and became friends. As I met more and more people, I began to feel less lonely and more and more at home. By the time I had to go home, I cried - but this time about leaving."

'Basically I was waiting to get a phone call from a very important person. I finally got the call and now we are scheduled to go on a date.'

"I can't believe it! Yesterday I met someone online on my dating site. She was just awesome and I was initially too scared to write to her. I didn't think I even had a chance. I was about to close her profile and move on to the next one but then something inside me told me to write. I guess I just felt we had stuff in common. So I wrote the best note from the heart I could. And I sent it, thinking nothing would come of it. Well, guess what? Today she wrote me back and said she loved my profile too and wanted to meet for dinner! I am still in shock! I've never gotten such a positive response from someone before! And the thing is I like her so much too. So now I'm waiting for her to call me. She said she would when she got off work tonight and we'd meet. I'm very nervous of course but excited too. I've been sitting near the phone for an hour now. My throat feels dry and my heart is racing. This could be the start of a wonderful relationship."

'A young woman who was a member of my church was honored during a celebration of life service on the campus of a university she worked at. She was responsible for obtaining funds and fundraising for the university.'

"I attended the memorial service of a remarkable young woman. She was responsible for securing funds which enabled many students to go to college, when they otherwise would not be able to do so. She was fearless and tireless in her pursuit of funds to help underprivileged students. She was a joy to everyone she worked with and worked for at the university for more than 10 years. So much so that the chancellor of the university spoke during her celebration of life service. She had recently reluctantly accepted another position with a university in Atlanta, GA. She had only worked for the university for four months, when she died suddenly from an aneurysm. Needless to say her family, friends and colleagues were shocked and saddened by her untimely death. The university where she worked for 10 plus years wanted to honor her, and so the family held the celebration of life service on the university's campus. There were many in attendance and the auditorium was filled and many had to be directed to an overflow room. She was a member of my church and I know her family well, so I wanted to be in attendance. Our church choir was requested to sing. There were remarks by many of her friends, family and co-workers. The one story that was heart-wrenching and tugged at the heart strings of all in attendance was the recounting of her last day spent with the new dean who was her boss at the university in Atlanta. She told how the young woman and herself had attended a meeting. She said that she spent her last day doing what she did best, which was to secure a donor for the university. She also said that she was happy and it was a sunny day. They had taken a selfie together and sent the photo to several people. Her recounting of the young lady's last day was filled with funny stories, as the dean spoke to the tenacity of the young woman in securing funds for the school. She was part of a sorority and her sorority sisters gave a poignant tribute to her. It is a celebration of life service I will remember for a long time to come."

'I got in a fight with the owner of my building wherein he yelled at me and called me an idiot, and threatened to rip up our contract. I was very angry but we worked it out.'

"in fact, the problems in the building I lived in have been going on for the last year. There were problems in the water system of the building before. I took care of this problem myself because it was simple. then the electrical system began to fail and I don't understand the electricity business, so I gave the building owner notice, but he passed away. but the big problem broke out 3 months ago. In heavy rain, the roof of the house was very bad and the upper floor of the building became unusable. this was purely a structural problem of the house and as a tenant I had no fault of use. the situation again I gave notice to the landlord. at first he wanted to pass. but when I insisted he came and saw the problem in place. I had a really serious damage and, according to the contract, he had to pay compensation to me and get the roof repaired. he would have to pay a substantial amount for these expenses. he told me that, despite the contract between us, he would not pay anything, that if I wanted to sit, I had to accept the building like this, that the rent rate would increase very much due to the shopping mall to be opened soon, and that I was so stupid that I could almost know that I was sitting for free. the landlords in this neighborhood kept saying how positive the new shopping mall would be. but things did not go as expected by the landlords. The company that made the shopping center went bankrupt due to a serious loan debt. The shopping center construction unfinished passed to the lending bank. The bank did not want to continue to the shopping center construction. due to this event, the rental rates in the neighborhood decreased to lower amounts than before. What did my landlord do? albeit forced to repair the roof, he paid me compensation for my belongings. There was only one requirement to extend the duration of the contract for another 5 years. because he knew perfectly well that when I evacuated this house, maybe 1 or 3 years, he can't rent this place to anyone. How do I know? no one has been sitting in the building next to me for exactly 3 years, but the owner of that building has to pay dues for the site costs."

'Not long ago I met one of my cousins on the street. That was someone I had not seen since we were teenagers and he had changed a lot. He was also a bit of a weirdo.'

'It was kind of fun and kind of weird at the same time. I was walking on the street and he seemingly came out of nowhere, almost pounced on me and recognized me instantly, while I was having a hard time figuring out who he was. After I recognized him we started a conversation but it was a bit uneven. While I was somehow guarded, at least at first, he just dived in the conversation like just as if we had already been talking together for hours. He seemed very eager to know about my life, my present circumstances, even my political opinions. So we chatted, although I didn\'t have that much time and the context was not the most comfortable. He asked me a bunch of questions and several times veered into personal territory, or asked awkward questions. Among other things, at some point he told me something like: "You didn\'t look too bad as a teenager but you were so skinny, I see you worked on that. I guess that\'s why you\'re married now - you were like a sack of bones." So... not the most tactful guy. Of course I made a face when he said that, a somewhat surprised and skeptical face so he realized he had been unpleasant and apologized profusely. He also told me he had not seen his son in many years and knew that his son had had a baby but had never seen the baby. He even implied that it was probably for the best since family is so annoying (his words). But he wanted to know about people we used to know in high school and seemed surprised that I had not kept in touch with any of them. It was pretty clear he was not someone with great social skills, although I had never really noticed it when we were young. I never really hung out with him but we were in the same classes, we had some friends in common etc. He just seemed a bit shy and didn\'t talk much, but he was quite popular nonetheless - I now wonder why. At the time I thought he was probably really nice once you got to know him better, but now I\'m not sure that\'s what it was. One way or another, we ended up chatting for a rather long time because I felt kind of bad to cut the conversation short - he looked pretty lonely actually, and seemed so thrilled to have someone to talk to.'

'This is a short story about the time I resigned my job as teacher. It was difficult and sad, but students supported me.'

"Four months ago, I resigned from my job as a teacher. If I were just resigning from a normal job, it would be one thing. This, however, cut me to my core. I had worked for the previous 3 years to build up my classes and program. I had invested countless hours, tears, and a mountain of effort into this job and these students. I truly cared about them, and they knew it and cared about me as well. During my time as a teacher, I felt more as though my students were my coworkers than the other teachers. There were some students that I communicated with more than my own family at times. It broke my heart to tell all of them that I wouldn't be returning to school next year. I picked a day when I would see each of my 6 sections of classes, and told each class, one by one, sometimes through tears. I explained that the decision had nothing to do with them and everything to do with low teacher pay. They understood my situation completely. Teachers are underpaid and overworked. They all wished me well, and I still keep in touch with some of them. They had a profound impact on my life, and I will carry lessons learned with me forever."

'Birthday party was a great surprise. There was a guest I did not expect. It was such a surprise to see them at the party.'

'I was thinking about Scott again. Scott was an unique hero with unique hands and tattooed leg I walked over to the window and reflected on her comfortable surroundings. She had always loved beautiful Birthday Party with its pickled, prickly picnic area. It was a place that encouraged her tendency to feel surprise. Then she saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the an unique figure of Scott PIke. I quickly gulped. She glanced at her own reflection. She was a sneaky, smart, whiskey drinker with fit hands and blonde legs. Her friends saw her as a broken, bright brute. Once, she had even helped a spotless baby turtle recover from a flying accident. But not even a sneaky person who had once helped a spotless baby turtle recover from a flying accident, was prepared for what Scott had in store today. The sun shone like swimming turtle, making me calm. Danielle grabbed a Party table that had been strewn nearby; she massaged it with my fingers. As I stepped outside and Scott came closer, I could see the jittery smile on his face. Scott gazed with the affection of 7996 thoughtful broken birds. He said, in hushed tones, "I love you and I want surprise the protagonist."I looked back, even more calm and still fingering the Party table. "Scott, I can\'t believe it\'s been this long since we have seen each other," I replied. We looked at each other with excited feelings, like two steamed, small squirrels playing at a very clever birthday party, which had rock music playing in the background and two hands on uncles eating to the beat. I regarded Scott\'s unique hands and tattooed legs. "I feel the same way!" I revealed with a delighted grin. Scott looked happy, his emotions blushing like a cautious, cheerful cake. Then Scott came inside for a nice glass of whiskey.'

'After being diagnosed with a rare immune disease, I grabbed a positive attitude, strengthened both my mind and my body, and sought help. The vast accomplishments I made as a result of my diagnosis changed me forever, giving me the courage to finally pursue my dreams.'

"It was tough being diagnosed with a rare, incurable immune disease. I still have to make so many severe lifestyle changes. The consequence of my illness is sudden, unexpected anaphylaxis. Every day, I must try to stay alive, never knowing when a life-threatening attack might happen. I live life minute by minute. Every day, I dance with death. I'm pleased with my new therapist. She's helping me work on my mental health, and how to cope with the future I am now facing. Fortunately, a few wonderful things have happened. I finally closed on the house, completely gutted and renovated it with new heating and cooling, got a service dog, published a book and started feeling like a normal person again. I now have a great medical team and my disability is pretty well-managed. I jumped straight into life when I thought I could die at any moment. I did things I had dreamed of, but was too afraid to start. Yes, I still dance with death every day, but I am very proud of what I have accomplished this Spring and Summer. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a woman come back from what should have killed her. Go Me!"

'I am divorcing my husband and starting over. It will not be the end but a beginning of a new and exciting life'

"We have been married for 15 years now. Together we raised two lovely, healthy, happy children. And yet I know now that the time is right to move on. We have been unhappy together for many years. We tried to work things out. We went to couples' therapy, individual therapy, went on frequent holidays together to recharge. But we just continually argued and didn't get along. It's been hard on the kids, I know. But even more than that it's been hard on us. We both show the signs of stress from years of bickering and conflict. It's painful to see my husband struggle. And it's been really painful to feel that I am not the same woman I was when I married all that time ago. So I am setting out on my own. For the first time in a logn while, I will be independent of a man, and free. I am excited to explore the world and travel again. And I look forward in time to meeting another man who will love the free spirit that I am and will become."

"I have a blood clot that determines how I live my life. It now determines what I can and can't do with sitting, standing, walking."

"I wasn't feeling well for a few weeks. I just shrugged it off and went on with everyday life. That is, until the pain became too much and was interferring with my life. I went to emergency room and had a few tests ran. They also did a sonogram on my leg to see if they could figure out what was causing the pain. Once they got the results, I was informed that I had a blood clot in the main artery in my leg. I was immediately admitted to the hospital and started on an i.v. to thin my blood. I was confined to the bed for a week to make sure that the clot did not move. The damage to my leg was severe. It looked like major road construction had been done on my veins. I also had to learn to walk on that leg again. I couldn't do the normal things I had before this happened. I had to be careful not to cut or bruise myself while on blood thinners. This was not easy as I have a grandchild to take care of during the day. It sucks learning to live differently that I had been, all because of a stupid blood clot. I'm ready to be normal again."

'I got drinks with a cowoker at a bar and then we meet some girls. We kept getting drinks with them till I ended up going home with one of them. Now we are still together.'

'My coworker and I went to a local bar after work. We hung out at the bar for a bit talking and having a good laugh. We saw some cute girls walk in and walk to the other end of the bar. We smiled at them and eventually made our way over to them after watching them for a bit to see if anyone was with them. We ordered them drinks and paid for them. We got them some small appetizers too. We laughed for hours and chatted about everything under the sun. I really liked the one girl who had dark hair and dark eyes. She was a beauty and a bit mysterious. She carried herself well and had a pretty dress on. We talked about our dogs. How we both love animals. I could tell she had a gentle spirit about her. Come to find out she knows my cousin. They work together at the hospital. I could tell she liked me and was touching my arm here and there. My coworker had to leave so I invited the girl back to my place to hang out and talk some more. We ended up talking all night long. We both had to get up and go to work but went out that next night again. Here it is 5 months later and we have been together as a couple for four months. We go out and hang out just about every single day.'