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'This event was on valentines day. I decided to provide my girlfriend with a promise ring. I did it at a very special location related to her now deceased mother.'
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"Shortly after Christmas earlier this year I decided to make a commitment towards the love of my life. She believed in getting a promise ring before the engagement ring so I had to follow suit. I decided to get a very expensive promise ring from Kay Jewelers. The real challenge was deciding on a special place to do the proposal at. I remembered that she would always talk about a particular place that her now deceased mother used to love. It was a lighthouse on lake Hefner. I decided to have her come out and meet me at the lighthouse on the day that I would present her with the ring. It was cold out and the sun was already down. I was waiting at the lighthouse for her father to drive her out to the location. I was amazed by how beautiful it was out there at and around the lighthouse. One thing I was worried about was how much she would actually like the ring. I was almost sure of myself when I thought about how she wouldn't like it. However when I finally presented it to her, she loved it. I put the ring inside a collection of roses I had set out for her with a note in it confessing my love and passion for her. After this, we went out to eat at a very expensive restaurant, and we enjoyed the rest of our evening. Best of all, she ended up loving the ring to my surprise."
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'My family is more financially secure. My husband got a new job and my family was able to get a new car that was big enough for our family of 7. I can also now pay bills with confidence and buy other things that my household needs.'
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"Things have continued to be going well. But I feel as if we could let it get away. Our truck has been having some minor issues that I feel if we don't get on top of they could come back and cause major problems us. We have been able to pay bills on time but I also feel that we spend thoughtlessly last month. I will have to really pay careful attention to our finances these next couple of months. Especially with property taxes being due. My husband has been thriving with his employer. He has come so far in the year he has been there. But it drains him and puts a lot of stress on him. So I have tried to increase my online work to help take some of the burden off him. We also lost out on some rental income that we had been getting so I am trying to compensate for that as well. So while we are doing better then this time last year, we still must pay careful attention to our financial state. I feel if we can keep it up then we are on track to be well off. Our house is paid off and we only owe $6000 on our truck. I really do hope that we can stay out of the slump that we always manage to get ourselves in to."
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'A woman has a surprise c-section. That c-section includes other unasked for procedures and a sad ending to her body. Alas, she got a cute baby out of it so all is not lost.'
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"My last baby was born 7 weeks ago via surprise c-section. I don't know why I couldn't have him naturally but I really wanted to so I was incredibly disappointed. I was also set to have my tubes tied during the surgery since I figured I want to be done with children, with him being my 5th live birth and everything. After the surgery was done I was super messed up on a ton of medication so I started regretting having my tubes tied. I asked one of the nurses how the doctor performed the procedure as I know that some tubaligations are reversible. I was then told that the doctor REMOVED both of my Fallopian tubes. MUCH to my surprise, that is absolutely irreversible. She went on to tell me that with IVF I would still be able to carry but given IVF is expensive, He is absolutely our last child. I felt super violated, given I had no idea that parts of my body were going to be removed from me. The doctor also performed kind of a plastic surgery on me she tucked some of my extra skin inside of me and sewed me shut. Some people would think YAY but not me because the stitches couldn't hold all the extra skin. About 5 days after my incision I noticed my skirt and panties were SOAKED. Like super duper wet. It wasn't bloody but scary enough where i went to the emergency room. Its not everyday your clothing gets soaked from a strange liquid oozing from your incision. The ER doctor told me I was doing too much and to slow down. At my appointment a few days ago my physician told me there is a hole that looks like a person took their finger and poked my incision in a spot. That was where a pocket of liquid was. It was all due to her performing extra surgical measures that weren't asked for. SO now I am barren AND deformed. Kids, man."
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'After 4 months of training I ran my first road race in 10 years. It was a 5K and the feeling of accomplishment when I crossed the finish line was very special.'
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"It was 3 months ago that I ran the race. I had steadily been losing weight for a year and I decided that I should start running again. It was only a 5K but it meant a lot to complete it. Consider that I was very obese a year ago and diabetic. Now my weight was 60 lbs. less. I felt great during training, well maybe not that great at first. But as time went on the feeling of accomplishment was wonderful. The day of the race was perfect. 55 degrees with low humidity. The crowd was larger than I expected. Must have been 5000 people lined up downtown for the beginning. Thankfully the race was chip timed because it took several minutes to get to the start line. I was considerate and lined up near the back because of course I would be in the slowest quartile. My time wasn't all that great but when you consider I am 70 years old, it becomes world class in my mind. My good friend Kay was there and she cheered me on. Drove me there too and of course took me home. We celebrated by going out to eat at a really nice resturaunt that night. Overall, the day was simply wonderful!"
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"I'm a nurse and have a terminal patient whom I treasure. She brought me a card and an angel to show how much she appreciated me over the years. I go see her every week."
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"Sometimes it's just so rewarding to be a nurse in this city. There is a terminal patient who I just adore named Kara. I make sure to go and visit her every week on one of my lunch breaks. Three weeks ago Kara gave me a card and a little toy angel to tell me how much I mean to her. Even though I see her often, this really brought a tear to my eye at the time. Of all the terminal patients that I see, Kara is truly the most optimistic. It's so hard to put myself in her shoes. But I know for a fact that she's one of the bravest people I know. It's inspiring to talk with her and hear her positive outlook on various things in life. Though it's inevitable that Kara will no longer be a part of my life in a few years, I cherish the time that we can spend together. That's why this card was so meaningful. It showed that she feels exactly the same way about our friendship. Kara doesn't always get a ton of visitors due to her age, so it's a bit sad when other patients have large gatherings of families to see them. That's why I'm so glad that I've scheduled a big pizza party for her next week when I visit. Hopefully I can return the favor of her nice card and gift by giving her a day of fun and pizza!"
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"I received a personal invitation to attend my nephew's high school graduation in Washington, D.C. I have a small family so big events like this are important to me. His graduation ceremony was very memorable, and I was very proud of him."
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"I come from a very small family. There was just my mom and dad, my sister and me. Because of this, we have always been a tight knit group. I have no children so my sister's children are somewhat like my own. We always visit each other on holidays and do special things for each other when we can. When it was time for my nephew to graduate from high school, I got a special, personal invitation to attend. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his parents while I live in Florida. Therefore, the trip required a little extra planning to make sure I could take vacation time from work and spend some time in the D.C. area during the graduation time. So the trip was planned, and I arrived a few days before the graduation just to spend a little extra time with my sister and other nephew. My oldest nephew was away at camp on the day I arrived so I did not see him at first. That night, we drove to his school to pick him up when camp was over. I still remember him running from the bus towards me and literally picking me up off the ground for a big hug. He has always had my heart that way. We spent some time catching up with him telling me everything that was planned. The graduation was the next day so there was lots to do. We got his outfit ready and planned everything for the next day. Of course, we stayed up late but was still up early for graduation day. He left a bit early because the graduates needed to be there in advance to get in place for the procession. We took lots of pictures and thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony which was surprisingly short. After the ceremony, we headed to a special restaurant for lunch and then enjoyed the sights around the D.C. area. I will always remember this special day and this boy who has my heart."
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"Our family took a trip out to West Texas. It was beautiful. There's a lot of things to do and see out there."
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"The family and I went out to West Texas. It was very beautiful. There were mountains, the weather was nice, and the towns were small. The hotel we stayed at was hipster styled. A lot of rental trailers. The desert is cold at night, but tolerable. It's a lot to see and explore. Especially for a first time explorer, there's plenty to do from hiking to trail riding. There's the Marfa lights out in West Texas. The sight is pretty incredible. Though it is surprising when the lights suddenly appear in the dark desert sky. A bunch of people show up every evening to view the mysterious lights. Marfa is an artists based town. Which is good because the people are very nice. I would definitely go out to visit West Texas again."
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"I went to visit a foreign country in South America and learn about their past civilization. I was able learn about the country's history and present time."
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"I was very excited. I was going on a trip. It was out of the country. I had never been out of the country before. I was going to South America. I was nervous too. Even though I wanted to go, I kept wondering if I would fit in in South America. When I went there, I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was so nice. I ended up learning a lot about South American culture. I went to many of the country's museums. I learned so much about ancient civilizations and how they lived. I was shocked about how much I did not know. I ate South American food. I was delighted to find out that their food was even more delicious than my country's. I had a fun time."
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'Dad got a really bad cancer diagnosis six months back. We were telling him to get his coughs checked, but he never listened.'
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"We found out that dad had terminal lung cancer around 6 months back. The entire family was devastated. Mom took it the hardest though. It made the entire situation much worse for me, as i had to somehow find a way to keep mom going while having to deal with such an unexpected shock myself. Dad had been coughing for years now. We have all been telling him to get and consult a doctor for years. He was adamant. No surprise there, old military habits. He always smiled when we brought up the topic. There was so much confidence in that smile that we let it go. Perhaps i shouldn't have. Could i have changed the outcome if i had pushed for a diagnosis with dad back then? I don't know. How could i push dad! He has always been known to be strong and adamant."
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'My mother has been suffering from dementia with no help. I fought for months to get her on Medicaid and failed at first because of income limits. After a lot of work and worrying I finally got her on a waiver program.'
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"Last year I spent a lot of time struggling to get my mother on Medicaid. She has dementia, and it wasn't until early November of 2018 that I was informed about how bad it was really getting. During most of 2018, I wrestled with Medicaid to try and get her the help she so desperately needed. First, I had to try and find her paperwork, which was very hard as with dementia she didn't keep things. Then, her application was denied because she made $200 too much. After retracing my steps and talking with some people in the main office for my state, I found out about the waiver program and worked for four months with her social service rep. What made it especially hard was that I live over 200 miles away. I was very thankful that my aunt was nearby to help as much as she could. During this time, there were a lot of issues in that my mother still had her car and was forgetting how many glasses of wine she would drink at night. Finally, after so much work, we received the news in August that she was eligible and accepted into the Home and Community Based Services aging waiver. I remember nearly crying as I received the news from the social service rep. The program meant that she wouldn't have to drive anymore, and that she would have in-home aides and care (non-skilled) for as long as she was able to remain at home safely. Even though it is still incredibly tough, emotionally and logistically, we now have someone there are least 6 hours every day to keep an eye on her and make things so much easier on both me and my aunt. We no longer struggle alone, and my mother now has the care she deserves. The struggle will not end, but we have a service coordinator who is incredibly sweet. He is attentive to our needs and tries to navigate the ever-changing system for us. My mother is getting worse, but she is also much calmer than she was before and I will never forget the day that I finally had some relief in the news that someone knew we needed help and was able to help us."
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'As a woman with a disability who uses a wheelchair, I am often excluded due to accessibility issues even when it involves people who are supposedly my friends.'
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'During the holiday season, I saw post after post about friends doing this together or doing that together. I also heard stories in person from friends about what they did over the weekend with other friends. Not once the entire holiday season was I invited to any of these events despite the fact that mutual friends were all included. I realize that I become quite a hermit during the winter months so I don\'t typically do much but it would be nice to at lease be given the option of going. December was relatively mild compared to previous years so I might have done more if I had been given the option. I\'m sure that if my friends heard me talking this way, they would make excuses like "we didn\'t want to just have you watch us skate" or "we know how cold you get outside" or "we know you need to be careful about germs." The problem is, no one asked and gave me the choice to decide for myself. They made the decision for me that the event was something I wouldn\'t want to do. I often become a little down during the winter months and this is the exact reason why. I sit in my house for weeks at a time without any contact with people (besides my daughter and home care workers) other than Facebook. It makes me feel really frustrated and lonely. People often say "well, you should plan something" or "invite people over." I do those things but I don\'t feel like I should always have to initiate social events especially when there are events going on that are already planned. During the winter months, my days are nearly exactly the same each day. I get up, work, take care of my daughter, and go to bed. I really have very little to look forward to except spring. Yes, spring, that season that is still months away.'
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"I was finally able to save up enough money to buy myself a car without anyone else's help. I have not had my own car in about 6 years so it was definitely a nice feeling."
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"One of the most memorable events that happened to me recently was that I bought myself a new car. It isn't technically new, it's used, but it is still new to me. I haven't had my own car in so many years that I forgot how good it felt to own one. I was struggling pretty badly financially-wise these past couple of years as most of my focus is on my son and what he needs, but I decided some months ago that it was time to start saving up money for this big purchase. I spent countless weeks researching the best options in regards to safety, reliability, and price and I finally figured out what I really wanted to choose. I also read reviews on different dealerships as my credit is not quite the best so I had to make sure I went to a place that could qualify me without too much of a hassle. After I had found the right place, I planned a day to go down and search for a car that fit my criteria. Surprisingly, I was able to find a car right away. I took it for a test drive and immediately fell in love with it. After we got back to the lot, I made sure I asked all the right questions so I would not have any surprises (particularly bad ones) down the road. When doing the paperwork to buy the car, my payments were not actually as high as I thought they would be, as my down payment was a good enough amount to keep me in a reasonable range. I kept getting those excited butterflies in my stomach and could not wait to get the keys to this car. I could not wait to drive my son around and tell him that mommy got this all on her own and I was so proud of myself and I hope that one day he would be proud of me as well. I feel as though we sacrifice a lot as parents and sometimes our needs get put on the back-burner; but sometimes we do need to put our needs first to better care for our children. I will never forget that day."
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'I went to see this movie as I was out shopping because I remembered seeing what it was about and thought it sounded wonderful because it related to the Beatles. It was showing close by so I just went to see it alone. I took my husband with me to see it and I took my girlfriend.'
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"I saw a movie that I enjoyed so much I saw it three times with the last week. I first went to it alone. Then I went to it with my husband. Then I took my girlfriend to see it last night. The movie was about an event that was a fantasy and yet totally believable. The characters were sweet and lovely and they made you want to know what happened to them and you really cared about what happened. The music in the movie was so phenomenal and kept you on the edge of your seat. I also had acquired the tickets for a really good price. That made it more justifiable to see it so many times. I intend to buy the movie when it becomes available. I may see it again soon with my son who wants to see it too and has not done so yet. The movie just makes me happy when I see it because of the joyfulness. The way they overcome their challenges with love and understanding is so lovely. It makes you want to persevere in the things you love as well. The actors that portrayed the characters in the movie were remarkable. They were so realistic that you totally believed what was happening to them. They also were humorous and had many friends. Movies that include friendship and love are so rare nowadays and that was refreshing. The fact that they were not white Americans was surprising but surprisingly a very good choice. It was sweet but not syrupy sweet. It was a fantasy and yet a believable story. The story was just a remarkable way of showing perseverance and love with ordinary people. I hope that the movie academy of arts and sciences will consider it for some award. It was a brilliant concept and a wonderful story to impart to all ages. I've been telling everyone I know about the movie now."
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'The man insult my friend so i am not interested in my friend birthday.I was eagerly went to ask the reason for the insult. But my friend never open his mouth.'
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'The mean error is an informal term that usually refers to the average of all the errors in a set. An "error" in this context is an uncertainty in a measurement, or the difference between the measured value and true/correct value. The more formal term for error is measurement error, also called observational error. The mean error is an informal term that usually refers to the average of all the errors in a set. An "error" in this context is an uncertainty in a measurement, or the difference between the measured value and true/correct value. The more formal term for error is measurement error, also called observational error. The mean error is an informal term that usually refers to the average of all the errors in a set. An "error" in this context is an uncertainty in a measurement, or the difference between the measured value and true/correct value. The more formal term for error is measurement error, also called observational error. The mean error is an informal term that usually refers to the average of all the errors in a set. An "error" in this context is an uncertainty in a measurement, or the difference between the measured value and true/correct value. The more formal term for error is measurement error, also called observational error. The mean error is an informal term that usually refers to the average of all the errors in a set. An "error" in this context is an uncertainty in a measurement, or the difference between the measured value and true/correct value. The more formal term for error is measurement error, also called observational error.'
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'I watched my bother make his international soccer debut in Honduras. One of the most memorable things that has happened in my life.'
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"I'm a life long fan of soccer. My brother is a soccer player. About 2 weeks ago I watched my brother play soccer. Not just any soccer. He made his soccer debut in Honduras. This was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was elated. I was excited not only for me but for him. My brother has struggled to become one of the best soccer players since the age of 4. He did it! I'm very proud to call him my brother. I am slightly younger than he is. I'm well on my way to become a soccer star too. I hope that I'm next to follow in his footsteps. I was to play in other countries too. Overall, him playing in Honduras was elating!"
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"I went to Chicago for a wedding with my boyfriend. An otherwise happy, romantic event was made somewhat sour by my boyfriend's inevitable deployment upon return home."
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'It happened about five months ago. I and my boyfriend were invited to a wedding ceremony. We had to go to Chicago for the wedding. It was a nice trip. We were excited about it. However, there was a nagging feeling of unhappiness bothering me. I could not get my mind off the fact he was about to be deployed. He is in the army, and after the wedding, he would go away. This ceremony was supposed to be a lovely getaway. We did make the best of it. We had as much fun as we could. We knew that after that, we had to say goodbye. It was hard. We stayed strong, and had fun regardless. We returned home afterward. We said our goodbyes.'
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"celebrated my friend's birthday party with her friends and family. gave a surprise to her. arranged the party with in 2 weeks. and properly executed the party."
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"My friend Sharon is a very amazing person, she is loving and honest, has a pure heart as gold. she is very funny and loves to make people happy. she can do absolutely anything for those she loves. but if she has you in her black book you will be surprised as to how much she will change. she had a boyfriend Nathan of three years she loved him to the moon and back. they did almost everything together, they ate, went to the movies and lived together for two years. he meant the world to her in a nutshell. but unfortunately he broke up with her fourteen months ago prior to her birthday. she was so devastated because she felt alone and thought nobody loved her. this was because her mother abandoned her when she was an infant. so i decided to cheer her up by organizing her birthday two weeks to the date. i called her close friends and family and told them i wanted to surprise her. i knew she would give anything to pat a chihuahua so i bought it to surprise her. as soon as she got back from and opened the door she saw everybody wishing her happy birthday. that was how i celebrated my friend's birthday party with her friends and family. gave a surprise to her. arranged the party with in 2 weeks. and properly executed the party."
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'My daughter got a rare disorder after getting flu. It was horrible to see. She had rashes that got worse everyday and was spreading.'
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"It has been six months since my daughter, Amanda, was diagnosed with a rare illness. She was just getting over the flu and suddenly started getting rashes all over her body. It isn't the first time she's been sick. She has had a weakened immune system since she was born 5 years ago. It is dangerous for children to get illnesses like the flu, but she was doing so much better until the disorder started. We have had to leave her at the hospital in the pediatric ICU. Its so hard to see her deteriorate like this. We have so many hopes and dreams for what she will be able to accomplish in the future. My husband takes books to the hospital and reads to her during the day while I am at work and I tend to spend the night in the armchair next to her stretcher. It has been difficult on our marriage but we have to be strong for Amanda. Tim can be a bit harsh sometimes and he blames me for her illness. It is my family genetics that gave her such a weakened immune system anyways. Work has been helpful with granting me time off and the benefits I get are helping very much with the bills for her medical care. I was hoping to write more about this today, but I am afraid I have very little to say right now. I am very tired and I will be going to bed here at the hospital again."
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'My grandmother passed away this spring. She had a good life and we will miss her. Her funeral was quite lovely'
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"I lost my grandmother earlier this year. She was 94 years old. She passed away on Memorial Day weekend. She had said she was ready to go, but it was still, of course, a sad moment in my life. She had gotten really frail overall and was in a nursing home the last few weeks of her life. The last time I saw her, she was asleep, and didn't wake up while I was there, but I was able to tell her that I loved her and that I hoped she had sweet dreams. It felt good to be able to do that. When we got the call, I wasn't surprised. But I still miss her, of course. She was a really interesting person. She was born to Belgian immigrants. She grew up on a farm with no electricity or running water. She had a really happy life though, and did more than she ever expected. Her funeral was really nice. A lot of people came. It was really nice to hear how many lives she touched."
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'My niece and I spent a summer day together. We went to breakfast, a movie , and rollerskating. It was a great day that ended with both of us falling asleep.'
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'The perfect summer day with my niece. The day started out with my niece and I going to IHOP to get breakfast. She loves pancakes so IHOP was the perfect place for her to eat. We both had a large stack of pancakes and left the restaurant feeling great. After breakfast we went to a early movie. The Lion King was playing and she really wanted to see it. Since I had seen the original I thought it would be interesting to take her to see the new version. I bought the tickets and we went in and got popcorn and drinks. We found some seats in the middle of the theater and sat back to enjoy the movie. The movie was really good and brought back memories from my childhood. My niece also loved the movie. It was now mid afternoon and we decide to go to the skating rink. Both her and I like to skate so it was a good way to pass the time. After about a 20 minute drive we arrived at the rink and noticed that the parking lot was not too full. That was good because it would mean the rink had less people on it and more space to skate. We went inside and rented our skates. We spent the next three hours blissfully skating in a nice oval direction. The music was good and it was not that crowded so the experience was really nice. When skating I never seem to get tired. I think it is because I enjoy it so much. When we left the skating rink it was late afternoon and we were hungry so I took her to Chi Fil A to get some sandwiches. She loves that restaurant. We took the food home and waited for her father to get off work. After eating the food and spending time with her father my niece fell asleep on the couch. It had been a long fun day.'
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"I usually hate birthdays. But my girlfriend made it awesome. Maybe birthdays aren't so bad after all."
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'Earlier in the summer, my birthday rolled around, which is usually a day that I dread. I have reached the age in which the marking of another year is more negative than positive. But, this year was different, in a good way. My girlfriend did everything that she could to make it a special day for me. She took time off of work, which is difficult at her job. Although money is tight, she spent what she could. But her attention and love was more important than the money spent. Along with a few small but meaningful gifts, she made all of my favorite foods over a three day period. So, in essence, she stretched out my birthday and made it awesome. The days were filled with good times. We ventured out of our apartment and did fun, goofy stuff, like play miniature golf and day drink with some tourists. And the evening were spent watching old horror movies and snuggling up on the couch. I know that this may not sound like much, but it was exactly what I needed. Now, I am planning to do something just as special for her birthday. I just hope that she enjoys her birthday as much as I enjoyed mine.'
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'I found out I am going to be a father. My wife and I found out it is going to be a GIRL! We are beyond excited to have this baby coming into our lives.'
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"About seven and a half months ago I found out the greatest news in the world. The news I found out was that I am going to be a father. A couple months after we found out that we were pregnant we found out it is going to be a girl! We knew the name that we were going to name her right away. It is a name that when we heard we knew we would name our little girl if we ever had one. I can't begin to describe how happy my wife and I are. I think about my future daughter every single day. It makes me so happy to think about the memories to come. I have been doing as much research as I can on being a dad. I am concerned about not knowing everything that I need to know when it comes to that. But I just keep telling my self that know one knows everything. That there are some things that are important facts to know. However, That sometimes I have to just trust my instincts on some things. So while it does cause me some anxiety overall I am so over the moon happy. This was the best event in my life ever."
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'My family is more financially secure. My husband got a new job and my family was able to get a new car that was big enough for our family of 7. I can also now pay bills with confidence and buy other things that my household needs.'
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"Three months ago, things took a turn for the better with my family. My husband had been applying to many different jobs. The one he had was not really cutting it for our finances, and money was really tight. We found that we were spending more money each month than we were earning. It was a very stressful time for us. My husband found a great job that paid almost three times his previous salary. He also got a signing bonus that allowed us to put down a down payment for a larger vehicle. We had to take two cars to get our whole family somewhere, and now we can all fit in our (new to us) van! We bought a 2012 Honda Odyssey and the color is a gorgeous deep red. We got a really good deal on it, and while I never really wanted a minivan, I'm glad that everyone can finally fit in one car. I was surprised how much I loved it! We were also able to catch up on our electricity and gas bills. We weren't behind a whole bunch but it was refreshing to finally be able to reach a balance of zero! It is so refreshing to be able to pay the bills. We have some money saved up now to get the kids some great gifts for Christmas. We won't be taking our newly found financial freedom for granted. I plan on being frugal with my household purchases and contributing to a large emergency fund."
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'Me and five friends went to dallas for a convention and stayed at an air bnb in the area. We met up with everyone there hung out and played games all weekend. After the weekend we headed home said goodbyes and enjoyed the time we spent there.'
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'This trip was something we had all been looking forward to for about a year. or so. Every year when the tickets for the convention go on sale we buy them and then just sort of forget about them for a while. Then a month before we get the AirBnB and a month after that we are sitting outside my friends house waiting for him to shower so we can start the long drive to dallas. After the 8 hour grueling trip with the obligatory stop at bucees we are there and looking forward to a good time. The line that we stood in felt like a mile long and we were definitely waiting for around an hour to an hour and a half to get inside but that was the only line for the weekend so not to bad. Inside though the culture is always great, just tons of love for video games and people and just everyone looking around having a good time buying things and relaxing. The air bnb was great also as we all just got to relax in a nice house in the suburbs and play games and talk. A friend of mine had bought a card game that doubled as a drinking game that day so we played that. It was a lot of fun everyone just sharing things laughing and overall just getting piss drunk. When everyone had deicded they had enough that night we called it quits and slept. The next day i woke up and wondered where everyone was and found a friend of mine awake. He figured they already went to the convention center so he and i walked to a dennys for breakfast. The meal was good and fun and from there we met everyone at the convention center. Was a great full day of hanging out explorering listening to panels then we headed back home for the night. We found out it was my friends birthday that weekend so we got him a cake and sang for him that night. The next day was our last day in dallas so we decided to just hang out again have some great food and visit spots around the city. We were dreading the long drive home but at the same time looking forward to the stop at buccees again. Getting home everyone was happy to relax and get some rest but at the same time sad the weekend ended so quickly. Either way it was a great time and we all look forward to next year/'
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'This is a story of my birthday that I never planned for but it ended up being the most memorable moment in my life. Thanks to my caring and charming girlfriend.'
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"What happened to me yesterday was totally unexpected. I have been so down and out since my 'gray' divorce last year. I began my cross-country journey a few months ago, living out of a camper van, driving across what seems to be an endless stretch of desert. Life alone is not easy, especially for a divorcee starting over in her 'golden years'. I normally pull over and eat a quick sandwich in the car, but yesterday, I was just too tired to deal with eat, and really craved the presence of other people for a change. I was happy to see a small but run-down diner on the horizon around lunchtime. When I walked into the smoke-filled diner, a young waitress with a pulled-back pony tail greeted me with a jagged-tooth smile and handed me a menu as she walked me to my booth. I noticed a scant number of other diners seated randomly in the restaurant. As I sat and studied the greasy menu, i happened to peer over the top, feeling the gaze of someone on me. I saw a man sitting at the counter, staring straight at me. He was 50-something, with a tousle of salt-and-pepper hair peeking out from the brim of his cowboy hat. He was dressed simply in blue jeans and a starched shirt, wearing a belt with a large silver buckle. He did not break his gaze on me, as he sipped slowly on a cup of coffee. I have never felt such an instant spark of connection. Suddenly, as our eyes met, I knew it. This man was to be my husband."
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'I wanted to create my own podcast. I decided to do a lot of research and then just go for it. It was very successful.'
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"My most memorable event from the past six months is when I started my fantasy football podcast. This is something i've been wanting to do for the past several years but I never had the guts to do it. I finally realized that I need to go ahead and follow my dreams and achieve this goal. I did tons of research. I listen to to ther podcasts every day. I study the great football podcasters. When it was time to do my own podcast, I knew exactly what to do. I knew my first post had to be exciting. I made it about one of my favorite quarterbacks. The podcast ended up getting a lot of views. Many people commented on it. Even professionals commented on it. I did a great job. I will keep doing my podcast. I'll keep getting better."
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"We went on a trip for my husband's birthday. It was hot. We had a great dinner. We loved the rooftop bar. Our shoes both fell apart and that was very strange."
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"We went to NYC for my husband's birthday. We stopped at his parents' house first and dropped off our kids. Then we took the train into the city. We got lobster rolls for lunch and went to Roosevelt Island. That night we went to dinner at a cool place and enjoyed it very much. The next day we went to Governor's Island and it was so hot we had to leave after an hour. We spent most of the day in our hotel since it was so hot. That night we went to Keene's Steakhouse and had a great dinner. After dinner, we went to a rooftop bar next to the Empire State Building. On the walk home, both of our shoes fell apart. I don't think we will ever forget it. The next day we woke up and went right back to my in-law's house. We had bought both of the kids gifts and we gave the gifts to them. They liked the gifts. We got my son a toy bus and my daughter a glass trinket."
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'I had decided to go on a hike in Lamar Valley during a week trip to Yellowstone National Park. Eventually, I came across a grizzly bear that wandered close to the trail. Although it was nerve racking, I was able to walk away from the situation unharmed.'
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'For my first trip to Yellowstone National Park, I decided to take the week off for the visit. I had reserved a camping site just in time, and for my arrival I was able to comfortably set up the campsite without much hassle. I took the time to immerse myself in the many sites and sounds of the park, and found seeing the various geysers including Old Faithful to be a highlight of a trip. Nevertheless, I still found time and interest in hiking in Upper Yellowstone, picking out Lamar Valley as the ideal location to traverse hikes or trails. My hike in Lamar Valley would occur one afternoon, on an eventful day where I had already seen wildlife already in person, including bison and deer. Naturally I would try to keep my distance away from the wildlife, knowing well enough the dangers and threats they may pose to me if provoked. This would however become difficult along the trail as I encountered a new animal stumbling near the trail. More specifically, an animal while familiar would be one that I have never imagined I would see up close before. Along the trail neared a very large bear, with brown fur. Despite having seen other kinds of bears before, I naturally froze once I quickly identified the species of the bear. Seeing the prominent hump on its back, that signifies the bear as a grizzly bear, invoked various thoughts in me regarding the power and speed a grizzly bear is capable of. More so, thoughts of how to handle a grizzly bear also came to mind, which included not making any quick and sudden movements and making my presence known. I would find some relief in realizing that despite being too close for my personal safety, the grizzly was more interested in other matters. Keeping my distance while the grizzly foraged around for food, I watched as it would eventually walk elsewhere. The tense moment would dissipate as it went out of sight, the only reminder of such an incident were the photographs I managed to take of the bear, and my first-hand experience. I would quickly afterwards finish up the hike, the rest of the day being tame in comparison to my encounter with the bear, although just as memorable. The event was a highlight of my trip, one that I was fortunate enough to experience, and one that reminds me of the beauty and danger of nature.'
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'I took my dad to a game 7 watch party for the Stanley cup. Our team won and i got to celebrate with him and the rest of the stadium and see all the emotions that everyone including myself felt.'
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'Watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup series with my dad and seeing our team win is something I\'ll remember forever! EVen four months later the event stilll stands out! Although tickets to the Stanley Cup game for me and Dad\'s favorite team were super expensive, we still celebrated the big win as if we were in the stands!! We saw the team score the winning points at a watch party. But, no matter where we were it was great to witness our team score such a big win with my Dad. I can almost still hear his cheers of excitement. It was also pretty crazy to see how everyone lept off their feet when the clock ran down to zero and our win was cinched! Everyone was ecstatic!! I saw a couple of guys in jerseys crying with excitement and pride and hugging each other- I didn\'t realize how much this meant to some people! My dad gave me a great big high-five and then started doing the same. to his friends. Then, I mimicked and held my hand up for "some skin" to anyone in arm\'s length. I got slaps. and hugs from everyone around during those first ten minutes when everyone\'s adrenaline was through the roof! Even the sports casters on the television seemed blown away at the victory. It was so much fun to celebrate this monumental sports. win for our city with my Dad and all the other fans in support!'
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'My son took his first steps, Makes me proud to be a father. Wish my dad was here to meet his grandchild. Being a father gives me a sense of pride and and purpose in life.'
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'My son is probably one of the more eager or better term yet, the more determined babies out there. I can just see his determination to do something without giving up, or you know, crying about it if ever he fails. This morning, I was doing my laundry while I was alone with my son. He just had his breakfast, which was Cheerios. His favorite was the sweet one, not the lame boring Cheerios you get that comes in a yellow box. After, he ate a full kids bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, I then took my breakfast. I usually do that in order for me to focus on him first before I have my own breakfast. So right after our breakfast, I let him watch some Sesame street, while I do my laundry. Suddenly, after around 10-15 minutes of me getting busy with sorting out my laundry, I hear some little cute grunts while I was bending down sorting clothes. I kind of get to check my little nugget only by my peripheral vision and when I focused on him, he was trying to let go of the small table to get his balance sorted out! I rushed and got my phone for me to record his attempts to walk on his own, gave it my best support to my little guy. He fell a couple of times, and one instance, I guided him towards me, he looked so determined and very excited, he started his first steps, then walked four more steps, just on his own without holding on to anything, then I grabbed him and raised him up so high for him to know that I was very proud of him. I kept telling him that I was very happy and proud, it was a defining moment for me as a father. I realized and almost tore up thinking about if ever my Dad was still here, I would tell him everything about it, let him spend time with my kid. Being a father is definitely one of the greatest roles in life, my father made me realized that.'
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'I went to the doctor. I had to get a physical. It is a yearly thing that I do as part of taking care of my health. The most important thing of my life.'
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"I always think everything positively. This is a good thing. To follow this attitude, we have to keep good health. In my point of view, good health is most precious one. With the help of healthy body we can achieve anything. So To ensure this I always follow healthy diet. I always follow the doctor's advice in eating,sleeping and exercising. Yearly once I go to hospital to check my health. These process is one of part of taking care of my health. When meeting with doctor , we can learn many things abut diseases and how to protect ourselves from the dangerous diseases. When I met doctor before few months, he was advice about Giga virus. I was shocked about the impacts of the damn virus. So I just consider this activity as the most important thing in y life. Especially he was my family doctor. He always takes extra care on my family. So we always follows his advice. Then I always do Yoga in every early morning. So I can observe cosmic energy easily. I always advice my family and friends to follow the diet control and proper exercise. By following doctor's proper advice, I could feel so energetic. This can enhance me in my professional career. By consulting with doctor, I can increase the knowledge about diseases and germs. So I can protect my family. I always create awareness about diseases and good foods through campaigns and social medias. By doing this , I feel that I fulfilled"
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"My mother's memorial service occurred last Thursday. I saw a lot of people and celebrated my mom's life."
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"Last Thursday I attended a memorial service for my mother. She passed away in July after battling breast cancer for 11 years. She was my best friend and losing her was really hard. The memorial service was truly beautiful though. There were so many wonderful people there celebrating her life and embracing her for the wonderful woman she was. People from all over the country showed up, which was really powerful. It was kind of overwhelming for me though, because everyone wanted to talk to me! Thankfully, I had a few of my very close friends there to support me. My coworkers from the farm where I work even showed up. They didn't know my mother, but they wanted to be there to support me. My brother played a piece on the piano that he dedicated to my mom. A lot of extended family members also showed up and they got to meet my boyfriend. Having my boyfriend there was probably the most helpful because he has stood by me though all of this! He never got to meet my mom, which is something I really regret. However, he loves me and will always stand by me."
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"I helped a friend of mine during a hard time in his life. I wanted him to make a smart decision. In the end, I don't believe he did make a good decision. He went with a woman who will probably hurt him in the end."
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'My friend Jon had been having a hard time as of late. It was two months ago when he was laid off from his job. There was no warning and he honestly thought he\'d be working there for years. I helped him get a temp job at a place near where he lives and that helped him out some. We\'ve been hanging out a lot more and I\'ve been there for him to talk to, and he says I\'ve been a lot of help. It was around that time when Jon met me after work one evening. I had been a little late as I forgot something in my cubicle and went back to get it. When I came outside I saw Jon talking to Sara, a coworker of mine. Sara is not exactly someone I would consider girlfriend material. She has a reputation around the office, and one of my other coworkers used to date her and told me she cheated on him several times while they were dating. I walked over to them and said "Hi". That was when Sara said she better get going and left. Jon explained his interest in her, and told me Sara had given her number to him before I had gotten there. I told him about her reputation and my coworker who used to date her, but Jon didn\'t want to believe it. He thought she seemed nothing like that and said he was going to call her that evening. I was surprised to hear that the next day Jon had started dating Sara. I think he made the wrong decision. Since they\'ve been dating he hasn\'t talked to me as much, and I think he\'s going to end up getting hurt in the end.'
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'I was invited to lead music at another church weeks in advance. My church and the other church were combining services and I was chosen to lead the joint service. The church enjoyed my music leadership.'
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'I was so honored to lead the church music when our church combined with the other church 2 months ago. It was so exciting to be chosen as the leader. I have been involved with the church choir music for many years but knowing my peers though highly enough of me to choose me to lead it was really humbling. I really worked so hard at preparing the music selections. I tried to think of the events of the month and things that were going to be spoken about in the service. I wanted songs everyone could relate to as well. These were known songs and everyone there really seemed to enjoy it. I met with the pastor as well as the other church members and reviewed the selections with him which he had no problem approving. This suprised me as I thought I would have to tweak a few of them. They stated the selections were perfect and everything flowed well. I felt so nervous that day but once I got there and saw my peers familiar faces I calmed down. I took a deep breath and began the compositions. The next thing I knew it was over. The event was over in a flash - its funny how things happen like that when you immerse yourself in something. I was proud and humbled as I stated before that my talents were recognized and I was able to represent my church so well. It was a wonderful day.'
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'Went to the hospital to get a diagnoses. This was an extended eeg that monitored my brain waves to better help the doctors understand what was wrong with my eegs and where the abnormal brain waves were coming from. It was a stressful event for me.'
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"This was a horrible thing for me because I had to stay in this hospital for awhile and it had a pressure bed to notice my movements. I couldn't get out of bed without someone coming to help me. I had to be on a strict diet and they had to take me off medicine slowly to see what that did to me. This was really painful for me because it was boring and I felt really restricted during this time. My friend was with me so it made it a lot harder to sit really because I knew she was bored and wanted to go home. I didn't feel myself the entire time I was there because my medicine was not right that I had been taking for years. I was very uncomfortable because it was really loud in this hospital as well doors were slamming all the time and I couldn't go to sleep. Being confined to a bed is a lot harder then i thought for multiple days. It was a big surprise to me what they found and my medicine had to be changed. It's always scary when I have to go on different medicines for side effects. Or take high dosages of medicine to stop the abnormal brain waves. The doctors were really nice here so that was a little easier. I think they could have made it better with more things for me to do. They could have had specific time for me to get out the bed and walk around. I wouldn't want to do this again it was kind of a nightmare."
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'I gave birth to our youngest daughter on June 6th, 2019. Labor was quick, but my epidural wore off and it was painful. My husband and I were thrilled to have such a beautiful baby.'
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'June 6th, 2019 was an amazing day. My family welcomed our youngest daughter into our lives. At that point, I was about 1 week over due. I was completely miserable and desperate to go into labor. It was Wednesday and the next day I was scheduled to be induced. My dad came to visit with his brother and sister in law. We had a pleasant visit and then they left that early afternoon. Shortly afterwards, I started to get a cramp like feeling in my lower abdomen. It grew stronger and stronger. I woke my husband up and said, "I think I might be in labor. I don\'t know." He immediately wanted to go to the hospital, but we had to wait for someone to come pick up our two older children. The pains continued in intensity and my husband finally said, "Enough, we\'re going now." We dropped off our kids with his parents and went to the hospital. I insisted we stopped and get Sonic first because I knew they wouldn\'t let me eat when we got there. We checked in and my husband and I anxiously waited as labor progressed. I got an epidural which helped with the contractions. At 11:31 PM I started to push. Unfortunately at this point, the epidural had worn off. After two short pushes, our youngest daughter was born. She was the most beautiful baby we had ever seen and we were so happy to have her here safely.'
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'Our first family trip to Walt Disney World was amazing and memorable. The food was memorable for a different reason.'
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'Our first family trip to Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida was amazing and memorable. Watching my 5 year olds face light up at the sight of his favorite character (Stitch) is something I will never forget. The food was memorable for a different reason. On our fourth night of vacation, we ate at a restaurant called "Chef Mickey\'s" in the Contemporary resort. My wife had researched a lot for our trip and had warned me that we weren\'t going for a fabulous food experience as she had booked this restaurant solely for the purpose of the character experience for our son. Chef Mickey\'s is a buffet restaurant that features the "fab 5," Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy. It is an easy way to meet the characters without waiting in long lines in the parks. After being seated, we browsed the expansive buffet that winded around the restaurant. I marveled at the open concept of the restaurant which enabled patrons to view the monorails as they traveled through the hotel a few floors above. It is a quite impressive space. The food was typical buffet fare. I had low expectations so I was not bothered despite the steep price we paid. My wife and I decided to nibble on some boiled shrimp and have a cocktail then pick up a hamburger later on that evening because we were underwhelmed by the selections. My son enjoyed his selections of chicken and broccoli and the characters and then we returned to the parks. Before the fireworks even began that night, my wife and I both started feeling very ill. We spent the next day in our hotel room very, very sick. Luckily, my son did not catch anything. Our hotel desk was amazing and sent a doctor to our room. We were able to salvage the last two days of our vacation for our son\'s sake and we plan on going back next year but we will definitely never again eat at Chef Mickey\'s.'
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'Me and my wife decided I needed to be a stay at home dad to our kids. It was a tough decision but clearly the right choice. Once made we were relieved and satisfied. Now months later the we are still glad we made this choice.'
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"We had a child that needed to be taken care of. We could pay for child care, but he price was great. So we thought about me being a stay at home dad. It would help on cost. But I would also forgo working a paying job. Overall it was a tough choice. But being a stay at home dad was a great thing to me. I love being with my kids. I love to take care of them. So on many fronts it is a great thing. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if we did the child care route. But I can't imagine not being with them each day. They are a big part of my life now. I like to be a parent to them. So overall I think we made the right choice."
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"My brother and I took my kids to a baseball game. It was also my youngest daughter's first baseball game."
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"My brother visiting my family and I back in May was a memorable event as we took my three kids to a baseball game, which was my youngest daughter's first game. She was very excited the entire trip to the game, which takes about two hours of driving. She only slept part of the way despite having to wake up somewhat early on Sunday. Once there, she held my hand the entire way through the parking lot, security and to our seats. She spent the majority of the 7 innings of our stay watching the crowd, random events on the field and eating delicious ballpark food. My two oldest had already been to baseball games, but were excited to be doing so with their uncle. They spent the entire game also eating ballpark foods, but primarily talked to their uncle about everything they were seeing. My brother and I got to see our favorite team play, despite losing. We only see each other once or twice a year at this stage of our lives, so we value our time together. We typically reminisce about our childhood and talk sports all day. We both love the same teams as we grew up in the same area. Our sports teams do not have a history of excellence, but we love them relentlessly nonetheless. After the game, we headed home for another two hours. We stopped about halfway to grab dinner at a location my kids really enjoy. They all ended their long day with a shake and all three fell asleep before we reached home. It was a memorable day with their uncle."
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'It was supposed to be a wonderful trip to a wedding. People are immature and very petty. It ended up being the worst road trip ever.'
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'A memorable moment in my life was when I went to my boyfriends cousins wedding and it was one unexpected event. It was a very long and horrible drive with his family filled with smokers. We had to stop many many times which made the ride even longer. Once we arrived to the hotel we met the other part of his family which were even worse mannered than the ones in the car ride. My boyfriend and I tried to make the most of this trip and did great activities such as go to the new city we were in target and go swimming. Basically enjoy ourselves before the wedding. The next day we headed out to the wedding venue. Turns out it is a park in muggy muggy Texas. It was so hot but then it also started super late so we were dying there for a couple of hours. The afternoon we decided to get drinks at the hotel bar with the rest of the family and for some odd reason drama broke out between the siblings. It was really awkward and a really bad experience. Everyone after than would not talk to each other. The car ride back home was worse than the way there. They were arguing the whole time. At that point I realized no more trips with them. I only travel with my boyfriend alone.'
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"Got mistaken for a band member. He wouldn't believe me when I told him it wasn't me. Nice man though. would be mistaken for the Sexdolls again."
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"August 26, 2019Dear Diary, Two months ago last night I was at a club downtown. The sexdolls were in town putting on a show at the local arena. I was at the bar ordering a drink when this guy came up to me and started talking. He was asking how i liked being in a band and did i like the city? I soon realized that he thought I was a member of the sexdolls band. I was really flattered but I tried to tell him I was not a member of the band but he wouldn't believe me, He just kept winking at me saying he wouldn't tell anyone who I was. I tried several more times to convince him that I was not a member of the sexdolls but to no avail. I decided to just go with it and spent the rest of the night talking with him. He asked for a picture so I took a selfie with him. After I had left the bar I giggled all the way home wondering if and when he would figure out that I was not a member of the sexdolls group. That's something I'll probably never forget getting mistaken for a member of such a popular band. The next day I was telling my friends about what had happened. They told me next time the sexdolls were in town that I should dress like they do and see if anyone mistakes me for one again. I told them that would be hilarious. I just might try it."
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'As a mom of two toddlers, I was terrified to have a third child so soon. Over the past few months, I have realized how much our family needed this baby and how thankful we are for her.'
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"When my husband told me he wanted to have another child I was shocked and disagreed. We had our plate full with two toddlers already and adding a third just seem like not the right thing to do. Our family had gone through a lot of family and financial issues and the thought of having another child just didn't seem like the right thing to do for us at the time. After sitting down and talking about it we decided that having another child might not be so bad afterall. It would shed a new light on our household and it would just be something great in the end. So that is what we decided to do. After we talked to our other kids we decided that adoption would be the route to go and then the process started. That was four months ago and now our babygirl is the best thing that has ever happened to us. She gets along well with the other kids and everyone just adores her. She has opened our hearts and filled our household with so much more love and she is truly a blessing. I am thankful for my family and my husband who supported me throughout all of this. I am also glad that we did decide to go through with the adoption which was a quick process. I can see that there is a very bright future ahead of us and I can't wait to explore everything with my little family. I am so happy I have a happy, healthy family and we all love each other very much. If anyone would have told me a long time ago this is how things would have ended I would not have believed them, I have a nice life and that is all that I could ask for."
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'Our son and his wife surprised us with a gift of a baby t-shirt revealing that we are going to be Grandparents.'
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'Our youngest son and his wife live about 2 hours away from us. He called and said that his wife had to be in town and that they thought they might stop by on that day for a visit. We were so excited. They arrived, we all hugged and they handed us a red heart shaped box and said it was just a little something for us. We opened the box and, inside, found a little onesie, a baby t-shirt. We were shocked, I was crying and laughing. They are going to have a baby. We are going to be Grandparents! This was very unexpected and we were so surprised. Then we were told that we had to keep it a secret until about the three month mark. This was going to be difficult. This was a wonderful experience. They will have a baby boy in February. This makes retirement really exciting. We are so happy for them.'
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"There was a bad fire in the apartment above mine, likely set on purpose. We had to get out and haven't been allowed to go back in for more than a few minutes to gather some of our belongings."
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"So, I had a bad couple of weeks recently. One morning, I woke up and did my normal morning routine. I heard the neighbors upstairs getting ready to leave, as usual. A few minutes after I heard the mom and kid leave, I heard a really loud noise from up there. I thought maybe the boyfriend had dropped something heavy. I didn't think too much of it because I heard footsteps afterward and figured all was well. About 5 to 10 minutes later, there was loud banging on my front door and people yelling outside. The apartment above mine was on fire and I had to get my son up and get out. It seems as though the neighbor's boyfriend did something to set the fire, which is probably the noise I had heard. It burned really hot and fast. My apartment became unlivable due to water and smoke damage, so we were forced to move to another apartment. We are now almost settled into our new apartment. It has been difficult to manage, and we still need to replace some of the furniture we lost. We could have filed a personal property insurance claim, but most of what was lost wasn't really worth anything since it was second-hand older items for the most part. I can't help but to keep thinking about it. I wonder what might have happened if I had slept late that day. I don't know that we would have been okay if I wasn't awake, or if it had burned just a little faster."
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'My wife and I surprised our kids with a trip down to Myrtle Beach on an airplane. When we told them, they were so excited because they had never been on one before.'
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'Two months ago in July, my sons Jeff and Todd turned 10, and so my wife and I decided to plan something very special for them both. We knew that Jeff has always had a deep interest in airplanes since he always tells us how he wants to be a pilot when he grows up, and Todd really enjoys being lazy on the beach. After my wife and I took off work for a couple weeks during the month of July (before the boy\'s birthdays), we both thought it would be a great idea to make this whole trip a complete surprise. We planned to travel to a beach for Todd\'s sake and that it be far away enough from home so that we\'d be able to board an airplane for Jeff\'s sake. So, after endlessly searching for the best prices and deals for airline tickets and hotel rooms, we finally landed (no pun intended) on really cheap tickets that were about $350 each round trip with a hotel room included in the package deal. My wife and I were very excited to reveal the plans to our kids when their birthday came around, but at that point in time, we were just hoping that neither of us "spilled the beans". Two weeks later, it finally was time to reveal the big secret. As soon as Jeff and Todd woke up in the morning, we happily wished them both a happy birthday. After seeing the loving smiles on their faces my wife and I knew it was time to make their day even better. This was the most memorable moment that I could remember, when we told the boys about the trip we had planned they both leaped out of bed and hugged each other and yelled out of excitement. Neither of the boys had been on an airplane before so this was going to be a brand new experience for them. Seeing them so overwhelmed with joy brought so much love to my heart that day. I also remember the way that the kids packed up their suitcases the day before we left for vacation, it was surely a sight to see. They were so full of energy that they piled all of their clothes and toys mindlessly in one large heap in the middle of the suitcase, they wanted to leave as soon as possible no matter how disorganized they were! My wife and I sighed with relief that neither of us ruined the surprise for them as we both watched our children prepare for one of the most exciting trips of their lives at the time.'
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'Devastating news is delivered on my trip to Florence, Italy. The news tinges the rest of my experience. The loss of a friend makes me think about life.'
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'I was on a trip to Florence, Italy and enjoying my time. I was woken up in the middle of the night by a message from a friend back home. I knew right away it would be terrible news. He told me that a close friend of mine going back to childhood had died from an overdose. I was immediately struck by a sick feeling and incredible sadness. I was in a beautiful city, maybe the most beautiful in the world, and everything felt like reminders of mortality and friendship lost. I spent the rest of the day with watery eyes wandering around. I tried to clear my mind but despite all the interesting and beautiful things I could not forget the sadness. It was a beautiful summer day and everything was bathed in a golden light. The beauty made the deep sadness even more poignant. As the day got late, I climbed up one of the hills in the city to the monastery of San Miniato al Monte. It is a monastery that has existed for 1000 years. I sat inside the church, designed and painted by some of the most skilled artisans that have ever lived, and thought about everything that had happened. I thought about my life, my lost friend, my living friends and family, and so much more. I was again in tears. After some time had passed, I went outside and watched the sun set over the domes of the city. Once again I just sat and thought. It was all I could do.'
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'It was 6 months ago in my home town. There was some crime happen. My family wrongly arrested. And I investigate about that and find some clue. That clues are useful to police. They investigate that gang and they accept the truth. police release my family.'
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"A robbery happened outside of my parents house and the police arrested them because they thought they were involved. I kept telling them that we live here but were not involved in the crime. However, a neighbor told the police my parents were outside where the crime was happening. Even though it's been 6 months since that day I still can't stop thinking about it. A couple lived right down the road and they resemble my parents a lot. I heard some chatter on the street that they were both involved with a local gang. Evidently, they stole a phone and purse from the scene and their child has been carrying the purse around. I contacted to police and explained what I had heard on the block and they decide to visit this home. Upon arriving they were able to find the purse laying on a lawn chair and some other personal items that belonged to the victims. They arrested the couple and released my family. We are thinking about suing the county for all the distress they have caused my family. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens at trial. The couple had to move out of the rental house while they were in jail. I'm still stunned that this happened! What would have happened if I didn't find this information out? I could not imagine my parents staying in jail and being tried for a crime they did not commit."
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"I went to a football game with my boyfriend. I thought he was going to propose but didn't. I realized I needed to let things happen naturally."
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"We have been dating for about three years. I am divorced and was never really happy with my previous marriage. We were more like friends. When I met my current boyfriend, I finally felt what it was like to truly love someone. I want to be with him forever. I see myself thinking about when he will propose all the time. We were going to a game that was significant to both of us and seemed like it would be a cool idea. I was disappointed when nothing happened. I should just let things happen. Instead I wound up sad when I should have been enjoying the game itself. Since then, I have found myself trying to focus more on enjoying time as it is happening. I am working on things I want to improve with myself. I will love him even if we don't get married. I also don't want him to feel pressured. It was a good lesson."
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'I found out in March that my Sister who struggled with alcoholism throughout her life only had a short amount of time to live. I was able to fly home to see her in May, this would be the last time I saw her.'
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"Growing up, it was me and my sister. I was her big bro and I took care of her. As we got older, she got into a lot of trouble. She stopped wanting me around. Stopped wanting me to look out for her. Eventually I gave up and gave her what she wanted. That is the biggest regret of my life. 3 months ago I found out that she has liver failure. This was due to alcoholism that she has been suffering with for years now. I flew back to see her. She looked weak. In pain. Feeble. Ashamed. I went to her hospital bed and she told me she was dying. She didn't have long. I cried quietly and told her I was sorry. I failed her. She smiled and told me there was nothing I could do. This life is really painful sometimes. It almost makes me wonder why it's even worth it. Then I think of my children and I remember that life doesn't have to be pain. It can be so much more. I love my sister."
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'The trip to Crater Lake in the summer with my girlfriend was truly unforgettable. The talks and laughter we had while enjoying the great view is something hard to explain.'
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"Wow I can't believe it was already nearly 4 months ago. The trip to crater lake was in the summer where I didn't have any obligations for work because I took a full week off. It was such an awesome unforgettable experience. At first when we arrived, many hiking trails were closed so it made us a bit sad but there were still that were open. It was a breath taking view looking at the crater lake once we finished the 30 minute hike. Once we came to the lodge, we enjoyed some wine. The wine we drank was chardonnay and it suited with the environment. We also enjoyed the sunrise and sunset. We were fortunate to have the lodge booked. Normally the lodge gets booked super quickly. We booked about 5 months in advance which was a smart move. I hope to come back again. Next time I want a bigger car because the car was a bit small. I still remember the views every day. I think this writing experience was valuable to me because it allowed me to reflect on myself and cherish the memories. Nowadays with so much social media and busy life it's hard to revisit things and writing was a great form of self reflection."
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'We held a memorial for my Mother this past March. She passed away from bone marrow cancer 5 years ago. It was a very emotional gathering for everyone.'
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"This past March, we held a memorial service for my mother. She passed away 5 years ago. She had Myelofibrosis which is a type of bone marrow cancer. The last year of her life was very painful for her and her passing was a blessing. Some of my family members and her close friends gathered together at the local Elks lodge where she and her husband had been members for many years. A few of us there got up and spoke about my Mom. About what a wonderful and caring person that she was. The most surprising thing was a few of mom's friends who showed up who hadn't seen her in many years. It was very touching. It was extremely emotional and alot of tears were shed. It really affirmed just how much people loved and cared about her. But it was good to bond with everyone and exchange some stories about many of the good times that we had spent with her over the years. I was very close to my Mom and miss her quite alot. But I am very thankful for the relationship we had. She was someone I could always talk to about almost anything. Her love and support were unconditional. I am the type of person I am because of my mother. She taught me how important it is to tell the people that you are close to how much they mean to you. And as I get older, I realize that more and more. I am so glad that she knew how much I loved her."
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"Me and her drove together to the DMV. We had to wait for four hours because she took a little longer to get ready that morning. I didn't really mind though because we did spend the whole wait time just talking and laughing."
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"I was traveling to the DMV with her and although we had to wait a long time, it didn't bother me because we had time to catch up. We started telling stories from our past and this really set us off to laughing. It felt so wonderful to be able to laugh with her. I was a bit annoyed that it took her longer to get ready. It's the one thing that really bothers me because I like to stay on a schedule and she just doesn't seem to understand that. But all in all, it was a great day. The laughter felt really good for my soul. I hadn't been able to laugh like that for quite some time. I have been so busy with work that I haven't really taken a whole lot of time to help her get the things done that she needs to get done. But I finally got a day off and we spent it together. I have missed her friendship. We do text but it isn't the same as seeing each other face to face. Being able to see facial expressions and listen to the tone of her voice. I like to be able to read people as I am talking to them. Body language is just as important as being able to hear someone's voice. And when I am with her, it is like we have never been apart. It seems we are always able to read each other's minds and pick up right where we left off. In this day and age, to many people rely on technology. All you see is people playing on their phones instead of communicating. Communication, and I mean true communication, is being left behind. This is why me and her can just talk and talk. Because we were both raised to communicate the proper way."
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'I attended a graduation ceremony for my Kindergarten child. She did a small presentation with her classmates.'
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"I must tell you about the even I attended recently. As you know my daughter is now in Kindergarten. They were wrapping up their school year and they had been practicing for a presentation for months. I know what you are thinking, how good will a presentation from little kids be? I was shocked. It was great. They put on a presentation about the founding of our country. They had one child playing Alexander Hamilton and another playing Ben Franklin. They went through all of the major events and it was great. Even though it doesn't seem like they knew what they were talking about it was so funny. The most surprising event was when my child, dressed like George Washington, started break dancing. It was so funny, every one was rolling with laughter. It actually made me recall my own child hood. One of my favorite parts of grammar school was the month before Christmas break where we would plan our Christmas assembly. It was fun learning the songs and it was also fun skipping regular classes. I am glad my child can do something as memorable as that."
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"I went to my friend's birthday party at a korean bbq restaurant. Afterwards I went to another friend's house to watch Zootopia."
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"This story was about me spending time with two separate friends. The first friend I spent time with at her birthday dinner at a korean BBQ place, the second friend I spent time with at her house to watch a movie. Dinner at the BBQ place was super fun and I was most surprised to see a soju tower on the house when I showed up. It was a huge tower-like container that has a switch and when you open it, soju just comes flowing out. The price of it was more than $30 so I was really surprised to see the restaurant just gave it to us on the house. I was also surprised by how many people showed up. I hadn't checked who else was coming and I was pleasantly surprised to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while. This dinner was significant to me because my friend was turning 21, an age that is pretty important to a lot of teens. It wasn't as important to me, but it was to my friend because she is quite a heavy drinker, so that made it important to me too. I had a really good time during the dinner. I was anxious at first because I wasn't sure where I would be sitting. Since my friend invited a lot of people I knew it was pretty guaranteed I wouldn't be able to sit with her. But I ended up finding a lot of people I knew and had a good time catching up with them. Afterwards I met up wit my other friend to watch a movie. This event was significant to me as well because I hadn't seen this friend in a while, and I got to see the new place she moved out to. It was the first time she was finally living on her own, and it was nice to see her slowly going into adulthood more. I had a really good experience writing this because it made me feel all these happy feelings I felt when I was going to the party and to my friend's house. It's pretty funny too how I forgot I even did this task and I could not remember what I had even written about."
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'I accepted a mentally unstable person into a sober living home that I manage. This person caused a lot of turmoil in the house for over 3 weeks. It was challenging to exit him from the house.'
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"So I'm a manager at the the sober living halfway house here in town. I've been the manager here for many years. As you can imagine there are a lot of different characters that come and go. And seeing as how we can't discriminate about 2 months ago I had the worst fucking person to deal with yet. I had no choice but to accept him. The guy was struggling with addiction and also had an array of mental health issues. They were only made worse by the amount of drugs he was taking. He was IV using methamphetamines. I don't know how much experience you have with people who use that stuff. But let me tell you it's no fun. Even once they get sober the effects are still present for some time afterwards, some effects end up being life long. He caused trouble with the other residents. Others say that they thought he was high and was causing drama. However we have a tight budget and he is drug tested every 5 days. He had never failed a test. So it was hard to just kick him out. Well, I let the owner of the home know we had some complaints. And some suspicions about him. So, figuring that he would get high for 2 days and then not use for 3 days to get his urine clean for her test or using fake pee whatever he was doing, we set him up. He allowed for me to use the following weeks test the day after the first test and we had him pee in front of me. And wouldn't you know it he was lying to all of us but more importantly himself. He burned a hole in that cup he was dirty for METH!! Back to jail you go bro, and I hope you all the best in the future, but stay the hell away from here."
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'Meet a guy during the time I was already dating someone. He ended up kissing me one night and I found myself questioning my feelings towards my boyfriend.'
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'One night about four months ago, I went out with a group of friends. We had many drinks and partied the night away. At an after party, we hooked up with many people. At some point I was talking with a guy. We started to make out, and it was great. I enjoyed it very much. It was so good, I had to reconsider my life choices. Especially my relationship with my boyfriend. Was it really worth it? Perhaps I could do better, I thought. However, I quickly cam back to my senses. I got myself together and left. I went back home to my boyfriend. I did not tell him. However, I was happy to be back home in bed.'
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"I was able to attend a festival with a lot of friends. I wasn't expecting to have that much fun but it was definitely a weekend that I will not forget! The festival was amazing with all of the art, music, and lights on display. I cannot wait to do it again next year!"
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"When we were initially planning the trip I was a little skeptical of what was going to happen. I was always interested in going to a music festival but never had good friends to go with. When I met the friends I have now they pushed me to go. This was one of the best things that happened to me because I always need a push to get out and do daring things. I am so glad that I decided to go because we had such a great time and I met so many awesome people. I made additional friends and will continue to be friends with them going forward. When we were there I could not contain myself for how much fun I was having. The music was pumping and I could not stop dancing and having a fantastic time. They were playing my favorite music the whole festival and it could not have been better. My friends were really fun and we danced for what seemed like several hours but it was actually only a few. There were drinking and drugs but i did not partake as I don't believe in doing them. I was very well behaved and only had fun without any toxicity. We can always have fun without toxic substances. This is why I am so glad I made the friends I did because they understand me. One of the greatest gifts is having friends that fully understand. I hope to have these friends for the rest of my life."
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'I moved in with my significant other after we found a place of our own. This was my first time ever moving in with a significant other.'
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"This past month I moved into a place with my girlfriend which is the first time I've ever moved in with any significant other. Needless to say, this was a very memorable event for me. Since I was a child I had envisioned settling down with someone and this has started to make it feel like a reality. It's a very warm and nice feeling to have your own place with someone you love. It took us about a week to find something nice and affordable in our area, so we bounced around hotels for that time and treated it like a bit of a vacation and a getting used to living with each other experience. We found a place we liked though and moved the very next day. It was a bit of a leap from how things used to be, but I'm glad I took the leap. It was definitely time in my life to try this out as I'm already 25 now. Heck, most of my friends are getting married now so I feel almost like an oddball. It's ok though because I'm happier going at my own pace. I'd say this has been a good choice though. I believe it will only bring my partner and I closer than we ever have been before. We're like our own team and can stand up to any of lifes challenges. It's nice to be part of something like that. I must say, it's definitely everything I had imagined it would be when I was little."
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'I was at my friends wedding and it was beautiful. I am the one that took picture. There was plenty of stuff that happened in this story about the wedding and we had a great time.she had a lot of family and friends that came to this wedding.'
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"We got to the wedding around 10 am and I started taking the pictures before the the wedding. Everybody was setting up the stuff and I ended up taking the dresses with out the husband seeing them so I could take pictures of them first. I then took some pictures of the groom men and then the bride and the bride maids. I took a few of the maid of honor and the groom together. I took some pictures of the reception and the bride and groom together where the couldn't see themselves. I then went back to where the bride was and took some of them her getting ready. I then went back in the church where she was having her wedding and waited and made sure I had my camera ready to take there pictures coming in. I then started taking pictures of the wedding party and they looked so beautiful and it was a very pretty wedding. I then waited on the bride to come in and I started taking pictures of her and the groom and there very first moments together. Then after the wedding I started taking pictures of the whole wedding party and the mother and father of the groom and bride. We then went over to the reception and I started taking pictures there when everybody came in and it was so beautiful. The bride and groom had there first dance and where they cut the cake and I took pictures of everybody that was eating and dancing. We then went outside and I took pictures of then driving off in an old nice jeep. I ended up leaving very late and taking the little ones home and watching them till everybody left. It was a fun and beautiful nice day for a wedding."
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'The story is about my personal experience about a personal crisis and how a kind neighbor helped me out of a tight situation. My daughter fell off a bike and my neighbor helped me get her to urgent care!'
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'the story is about my personal life. i have a very good family. i have one daughter. she is very cute and adorable. she is 3 years old. she is very naughty. i love her a lot. one day she is playing in garden. my daughter have kids bike. she is playing in the garden with the kids bike. me and my partner were busy with our work. we are doing garden cleaning process. my daughter went near to the pool. she nearly went to fell off from the floor to pool. my kind neighbor seen this scene from his house. they came very fast and save my daughter. they helped me to get her to urgent care. i am very much thankful to them.'
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"I held on to my pee, longer than i should have. I went to the doctor, now i'm looking forward to the treatment the doctor will have for me."
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"Okay, it has been several months since i came back from my primary doctor's visit. My primary doctor gave my phone number to the best specialist at the hospital. Then it took like a week to hear back from the people who schedule appointments at the hospital. It was a matter of me going to hospital to see why they hadn't called me, when my primary doctor said that someone from the hospital would. It took weeks to see a urinary specialist. I don't know the exact length, but i had to wait a couple of weeks just so he can hear my side of the story and see what steps he can take with me. I went to my first visit with the urinary specialist on July 27, now i'm going back to see him tomorrow (August 27, 2019). After my first visit with the urine specialist, he gave me a 2 week supply of blue/purple pills that said that these pills might cure me and get me back to normal. But it didn't. I took them and turned my pee to a blue color, which on the package, it said that it was normal. But it didn't cure my frequent urination, which is what i'm going through right now. I wish the health care industry in america would be a lot more efficient and not have someone that is poor and not a lot of money have them wait an eternity for treatment. But, i am going to see him tomorrow, that is what is important. What the urinary specialist told me was they're going to ultra sound my kidneys. Then they're going to look inside my urine hole while i'm under anesthesia. I'm hoping this will end good, not bad. Hope for a speedy recovery, so i can go back to work like i used to 2 years ago."
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'I wrote about a visit from my mother-in-law, who has advanced stage cancer. I discuss seeing her and how I perceived her when I saw her, as well as how this diagnosis has affected me personally and made me reflect on her death and mortality in general.'
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'This past week has seemed like the longest week of my life. I have known my mother in law for quite some time now. We have had our differences over the years, but overall we have had a pretty good relationship. She was recently diagnosed with advanced stage cancer. She has been admitted to a rehab home for constant care. I went to see her and make sure I could make her as comfortable as possible. When I first walked into her room, she could not see me. I burst into tears, and left her room for a moment to pull myself together. After all, I could not let her see me in a moment of weakness. She needed all the positivity she can get. I went into her room and brought her a drink she loves, and a bouquet of roses (which she has always adored). We carried on a conversation as if nothing was wrong, and it was a normal day. With each passing day her skin grew a little more dry and pale. Her voice started sounding quieter as well as soft. I knew her time was near, and that really got to me sometimes. My mental health had drastically suffered since finding out about her cancer. I started to realize all of the things I used to fret about, suddenly became so small and irrelevant. I found myself reflecting on what I would do when she finally passed. Did I do everything in my power to leave a lasting impression on her as she passes into the next life?'
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'Unexpectedly getting pregnant, and its effect. Some of the best gifts in life come as surprises though.'
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"A little over 3 months ago I discovered that I was unexpectedly pregnant. I have a son who just turned 12, and since I'm in my 30's I figured I was done. I am also a very independent woman, with a good career and almost done with my MBA. So the timing is a little hectic. I always had planned on having another after my son, but when it didn't happen in a few years I started to make other plans. I have been a single mother for years and felt no need to settle, so I was planning on adopting in the next few years. I've also worked very hard on my fitness the past 2 years, and this plan felt perfect so I wouldn't have to give up the progress on my body. About 6 months ago I started dating a coworker, who is a great man. I'd even told him not to expect me to have kids if he wanted to be with me. Then after just 2 months I found out I was pregnant. At first it was a huge shock, and honestly I wasn't very happy. After some months to get used to it, I can honestly say I'm very excited now though. It's been a huge adjustment, however. I went from living alone to having my boyfriend move in to help with my bills. Being an only child, my personal space is very important to me. I understand some sacrifices are necessary though, and in the end it will definitely be worth it."
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'I met a woman at a place outside. We bumped into each other and talked about different things. Over-time this woman ended up becoming my wife.'
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"I remember the first time I met my soon to be wife. That was a special night because we were two people who really had no business being around each other. She was an accountant, I was aspiring designer for graphics who was currently struggling to actually find work. We just so happened to be in the same place and ran into each other where a conversation was sparked. The first time we met I realized how beautiful she was. How amazing she was a person even knowing what I did for a job and seeing how sparingly at the time my work was coming in, she still gave me the time of day and respected me and I was very happy about that personally. So I was more than willing to just conversate with her. We sat down and I offered to buy her something to eat and drink and she was more than happy to do that. We talked even more and we couldn't get enough of each other at that point. Looking in her eyes I knew that I didn't want that night to end. I wanted to keep that and I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing, at times I was nervous but I knew that over-time I would be more comfortable. So we kept talking and talking and you know the old saying that when you're having fun time flies by. Eventually we realized that after eating we literally sat and talked for a whole hour afterwards. I apologized for holding her time but she was telling me right away that she enjoyed her time. We exchanged numbers and a few months later we ended up dating. I was very pleased with how everything turned out and what I'm trying to say is that you never know where love or a friendship is hiding, it could literally be in plain sight."
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'I lived in my college town for 6 years, well after all of my friends had left. I wanted a new start, so I moved to new city that I had never visited before. I lost all of the familiar things in my surroundings, but I gained a new sense of freedom and possibility to begin new patterns.'
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"I spent four and a half years getting my college degree, and by the time I had graduated, most of my friends had already left town and moved on with their lives. Though I was in my early 20s, I felt like a kid playing the part of a college-graduated adult. I had few friends to lean on for support, and those I did have had become more distant and unavailable. Because I had no idea what else to do, I remained in my college town for another year and a half. This began as a very dark time for me, but I slowly began to move away from depression and engage with life more and more. I started a new relationship during this time, and we decided to move to a new city once she graduated. We picked a place we had no connections to but were interested in exploring, and we began to look for apartments while saving up for a deposit. It was scary but exciting to not know where we would end up or if we would even be able to find a place to live before our lease was up in our college town. In the last week of the lease, we were able to sign on for a new apartment. After an arduous moving process, we stopped to get some groceries for the new place. I started feeling scared then at this new unfamiliarity I had moved into. The things I had been surrounded with for the past 6 years were gone, and I wasn't sure how I would fit into this new life. I had no idea where I would find work or if I would be able to pay rent in the next month. The apartment was several miles outside of the city I wanted to live in, and it was in a pretty rural. It had no windows and felt stuffy and suffocating. It was filled with spiders and other bugs that we were never able to fully get rid of. It was small and cramped but not in the cozy way that some of my previous residences were. This was the beginning of another dark period in my life, and I started feeling more and more stuck in my thoughts and patterns the same way I felt stuck in the apartment and the countryside. I felt really isolated from everything despite my efforts to go out and engage in the world."
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'My boyfriend and I made our third trip to Denver. While we were there we visited breweries, attended hockey games, and spent time with our friends that moved up there.'
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"3 week ago, I and my boyfriend (star) went to Denver for our third trip this year. We got to Denver and got ourselves a suitable place to stay. The following day when we were fully relaxed, we visited the breweries, where I and my boyfriend was able to see and learn a little on how beer are produced. Later that same day we went to a game station, where I and my boyfriend was able to play hockey. Though I didn't know much about hockey but he taught me and it was fun. Then a day after, I and my boyfriend went out to see our friend to catch up on old time. We all had fun and they also show us around. Denver is one of the most beautiful place have ever been to. It has the most beautiful stores, mall, eateries one can visit. Denver also have different varieties of food one will want to taste. I and my boyfriend also tasted all the delicacy there. We and our friends also went for shopping, we had a small get together party, where we talked about our Jobs, families and some places we would all love to visit. Later that day we had to say our goodbye because that was the last day of our stay at Denver. It's a trip I and my boyfriend will always remember. This is one kind of trip that I will never forget. It is a memorable one spending time with my boyfriend could be fun and lovely. Through our friends we get to know more people, get to mingle with other and also get to have more friends"
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'I took a cruise with family. I saw some beautiful sights and also some sad ones. It was a learning experience for me.'
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'What I wrote about before was the cruise I took a few months ago. I went with my sister and her daughter. My sister and I flew to Texas. The ship was leaving from Galveston. When we got to Galveston we stayed overnight in a hotel in order to board the ship the next day. We left on time. The ship was super crowded with people. Not my thing but oh well. We spent two days/nights sailing to our first destination. During the sailing we attended some events for entertainment. I really enjoyed just sitting on our balcony in the room. It was so relaxing just to watch the ocean. We also spent some time enjoying the food in the restaurants. Really good food. So we finally arrived at our destination, which was in Mexico. We got off the ship and did a little shopping in the touristy areas. Then we took a taxi to the beach. It was so hot and so humid. Being at the beach was great because we could jump in the ocean and cool down. We ate some Mexican food as we sat on our lounge chairs. We then got back on the ship to our next destination. We spent one night sailing there as I remember. We again spent some time on the beach there. Driving back to the ship we drove through the little town, which was extremely poor and run down. Really sad.'
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'My story is about receiving my two year token and cake at my local Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings for being clean and sober. It includes how I felt about receiving my two year token and details about the experience.'
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"I've had some rough years in my past. Some of which included me being addicted to narcotics and alchohol. I was really going though during that time in my life. drugs and alcohol were something that I used everyday to try and feel something or feel better in my life. I eventually realized that taking these things weren't really helping me at all. They were making things worse for me in my body and in my mind. I had to get help so I signed up for alcoholic and narcotics meetings. I attended them everyday once I had gotten together. I never missed a day for about two years. One day there was a meeting for me in which to celebrate my success of not missing any days and being cleaned up. I was finally sober for a good little while now and it felt good. I had recieved a two year token for doing just that. The people had a mini party for me to celebrate. I really enjoyed be able to have fun without being intoxicated. Thanks to everyone at the meetings that helped me get back on a straight path."
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'Girl gets her heart broken by ex-boyfriend and meets a handsome stranger who invites her to a Italian lunch. She spills her food all over him and he still kisses her. They are now engaged.'
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'He ended our relationship. .He had been acting distant and cold for a couple months. My "I love you\'s" were not reciprocated. He kept saying it wasn\'t us. My ex-boyfriend texted me as usual. We always texted good morning. I was at home sick in bed fighting off a weird summer flu. I opened the text in hopes to find my loving boyfriend had come back to me. No, instead he wrote, "Please forgive me." I immediately knew the end had come. My heart was in my stomach. I called immediately. I kept trying to remind him of the good times we had.He finally broke down and said he could be an "us" anymore. It felt like my whole world had shattered and I didn\'t leave bed for days. When I had enough will power, to get up, shower, eat, and go to my office, I bumped into the most gorgeous man in the elevator. I smiled and said "good morning." The next day he held the elevator open and said "Have you been to Piada ever?". I hadn\'t, "Whats that?", I asked. He said "Wait, and find out. Meet me here at 12." I was about to jump out my seat with excitement. Fast forward to the date, I was so nervous. He was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. The food was great but, what a disaster! I spilt my whole drink and meal- spaghetti and meatballs over his suit. He laughed and I laughed and then he kissed me. I saw fireworks. He opened me to a new possibility of love and now we are going to get married.'
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'I went to lunch with my husband and ran into an old friend who is engaged to my brothers best friend. Then my husband surprised me with plane tickets to Paris. What a day.'
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'A week ago, on Saturday, was a day that was full of surprises for me. I do not have many days like this in my lifetime. First, my husband told me that we would be going out for lunch. He said that it was to a restaurant his friends were talking about. Because it has been a long time since we ate out, I agreed. At the restaurant, the service was excellent and the food was very good. "I told you so," my husband said to me. Then, surprise of all surprises, I stumbled on an old friend of mine. She is one of my best friends and have known each other when we were in high school. She told me that she was now engaged to my brother\'s best friend. I was really overwhelmed. This is because she and the best friend of my brother were sworn enemies when we were in high school. I was very happy to hear such a good news. I celebrated the news with a toast to her. I asked her to keep me in the know about any future arrangements. She promised to. Then, to end the day, my husband informed me that we were going to spend our next vacation in Paris. I had not yet finished rejoicing from that news when he presented me with plane tickets to Paris. I was overjoyed. I was overwhelmed. Paris of my dreams!'
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'My son returned from a military deployment. We had a big coming home party for him. The night ended badly, with drunkenness and physical fighting.'
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"My son just returned from a military deployment. I was so excited to finally see him again in so many years of not seeing him. When he came home the first thing I did was giving him a hug hug. He blushed and told me that he's too old for hugs. But as a parent, I say that you're never too old for hugs. After that we sat down and talked about his life at the military. He told me that life was hard and challenging there, but he say it was fine and came out stronger because of it. I was so proud of him. He looked so different. When he went there he was so short, and skinny, but when he came home he was so tall and full of muscle. I knew he worked hard for those. After we exchange many stories, we got drunk from the beer we were drinking while we were talking. And what happened after that no one can really remember clearly, but some of us woke up with bruises. Someone must have started a fight somewhere in the night, but no one remembers anything. Oh well. It happened, it happened."
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"On the day before Easter, we delivered plastic eggs filled with chocolates during our charity food truck run. My teenage daughter's suggestion for the eggs made her cry and filled the homeless with delight."
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'My family and I volunteer for a charity that feeds the homeless. One Saturday each month, we go to the charity\'s commissary, make 135 sandwiches and load the charity\'s truck with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, and bottles of water. Then we deliver the food directly to the homeless downtown. A few months ago, our Saturday fell on the day before Easter. I wanted to do something special for the homeless. I came up with a few suggestions that were roundly rejected by my very moody teenage daughter. Frustrated, I suggested that she come up with some ideas, then. She went up to her room with stomps in the place of footsteps. Thinking she would summarily forget the task, I decided to go with my first idea of making hard boiled eggs and dyeing them as a family. But soon, my daughter came down the stairs (much lighter this time). She wanted to put mini-chocolate bars in plastic eggs and deliver them with the sandwiches. So we purchased 135 plastic eggs and chocolates and then my daughter, son, husband, and I assembled them to go with the food. The next day, as we made our deliveries, I watched my daughter\'s face with as much fascination as I watched the faces of our homeless friends as they opened their eggs. Delight and happiness lit up the faces of the homeless as they found their "surprises."And as she watched, joyful tears slipped onto my daughter\'s cheeks. She tried not to let me or my husband see. But we did.'
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"Celebrated my son's birthday at the Woodland Park Zoo. Had a great experience with the lion. Came home and opened presents."
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"My son's birthday was a great time. It was about two weeks ago. He had been wanting to go the zoo for a while but we just never had the time or the money to engage in it. It also took a while for him to get ready for this event, but that's alright. I just wanted him to enjoy himself. It's hard seeing him grow up and knowing he might grow out of something at any moment. That being said, the experience was great. He got to say a variety of animals. He loved the pandas, fishes, and he had a great experience with a lion. The lion was surprisingly docile, and let my son pet him on the nose. The purr the lion made could start earthquakes, I tell you what. We spent a couple of hours there and really enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, we made the trip home. The fun wasn't over, as he still had presents to open. He opened the presents with great velocity and truly appreciated each one. I think I'm raising him right."
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'i experiences an accident. it was so bad, i was lucky. i knew the importance of wearing helmet. Nonetheless, the accidenttaught me a lesson that wearing a safety helmet is very important.'
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'There were many events happening in my life. No matter they weregood or bad, they all were impressive in my memory. The mostmemorable event in my life is the trip I took to Japan and stayed there forone month in last summer vacation. I went there to study and travel. Andthat was the first time I went abroad by myself without the company of myfamily or friends. I went to Tokyo that was located in the middle of Japan. It is a big city in Japan with a large population and a convenient publictransportation system. There are many convenient JR lines for people totake. That is the reason why Japanese don\'t ride motorcycles. Theenvironment also benefits from it. A car accident of which I was the victim occurred last year at a roadjunction. One day, I was riding my motorcycle to buy some food. When Iwas waiting for crossing the street intersection, a car rushed by a red lightand crashed into the ass end of my motorcycle. We had a fender bender. Although it was not a serious accident, I had the jitters because I wasshot out of my motorcycle. If I didn\'t wear a hard helmet, I could have hadmy head smashed in that position. Fortunately, I just suffered only a minorconcussion and slight abrasion on my right knee and back. However, I was very angry at the driver because he tried to hit and run. Luckily, someone helped me on my feet and asked me, "Did youremember the plate number of the hit and run car? Did you need anambulance?" I shook my head. I scolded in my mind and reflected, "Whydidn\'t the driver observe the rules? Every one should observe the trafficregulations!"Finally, I just had to live with my bad luck and went home. Fortune ofthe misfortune was that I didn\'t get heavy hurt. Nonetheless, the accidenttaught me a lesson that wearing a safety helmet is very important. I thinkthe car accident is an unforgettable experience in my life..'
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"I applied for a Head Cashier poiition 3 times before finally getting it! It.took a lot of hard work and efforts to get there. I'm now on my way to a more upper management position."
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"Four months ago I got the Head Cashier position. I had applied three other times before and was rejected. I never gave up at it. I kept working hard and applied again each time. I feel like all the effort has paid off. I'm happy that I'm not the Head Cashier. I feel a lot of responsibility and prestige with this position. I want to move up in this company and this is just the first step. I want to be in upper management. If I keep up my hard work and effort I will soon be there. I just have to keep my goal in my mind and apply myself. Soon enough I will be able to move up again. I want to show this company my potential. I'm now in this position and I feel I've accomplished a lot in the short time. I know that I can become anything I want to be now. It's up to me on how far my future goes."
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'Two cars crashed rear-to-front near me as I walked past. One of the angry drivers menaced me and was handcuffed.'
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"I knew that the driver had looked familiar. But I couldn't think of where I had seen his face before. Then it came to me. That was a guy I knew from high school. He looked a lot different because for one thing, I had not seen him in years. Secondly he looked kind of drugged out. As he was put into the back of the cop car I heard someone call my name. I knew that voice! It was Amber, but she sounded worried. Turns out her car had been hit. She looked okay as she ran up to me at least. I asked her what had happened. She told me that she had been at the night club up the road, when this guy started harassing her. She didn't want to deal with it anymore so she left. Well the guy who I just saw getting arrested was the guy from the club. Turns out he was following her. He signaled for her to pull over and when she refused he rammed into her car and caused a pretty bad accident. Amber was just glad to see me because she was pretty shaken up. I took her back to my house so she can hang out and relax. The next day I helped her file papers to get a restraining order on the guy from the club."
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'A very close companion of mine took me to a park and to a waterfall. It was a series of intimate moments with her. She looked into my eyes while we were relaxing near a river and it was very memorable.'
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"I had such a wonderful day today. It's hard to put into words how happy I am about getting together with her today. When she picked me up, I thought we were just going to hang out again. This time was different, though. We had quiet moments that went beyond friendship. As we sat by the waterfall at our favorite park, we had deeper conversation. Then, I'll never forget how she looked as we gazed at each other. So beautiful and so loving. We even held each other and relaxed for a while. We kissed and it was amazing. I love her even more now than before. I guess my feelings might be reciprocated after all. Strange that this is happening all of a sudden. Of course, I hope this is the start of much more. This is all I want."
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"I nervously started taking martial arts classes with a bunch of much younger people. Some really cool and unexpected things happened during that first class that made me forget that I am almost 50. By the end of the first class, I didn't feel so old or so self conscious anymore."
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'I knew I was getting older. I was afraid that when I walked the streets at night, I might end up getting attacked. I was scared. My family was scared. I loved to take walks at night because it cleared my mind. I knew what I had to do. I decided to take martial arts classes. I was nervous at first because I was the oldest one there. But the others were really nice. They took me in as one of their own. We all practiced together. We got to know each other. Soon we were all like family. I knew everyone\'s name. It got to the point where I didn\'t feel like the "old guy" in the class anymore.'
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'I had an abortion at the age of 18 because I though I had no one that would help me out. Come to find out my father was willing to help me out but he was unaware of my pregnancy until 5 years after the fact as my mom kept this from him.'
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"When I was 18 years old I ended up getting pregnant while I was still living with my parents. I carried this child for approximately 3 months and fell I love with it. I had an illness, aside from the pregnancy, at that time and knew that I would need some assistance in caring for the child. The father of the child did not want to be a part of this baby's life so I ha no one to turn to but my parents. The night before the abortion I ended up telling my mom what had happened and what was going to happen the next day. I basically begged her for help at this point, and I remember saying how much I hated myself and how I did not want to go through with the procedure. My mom told me that she had no choice but to tell my dad and I begged her not to, fearing his reaction. This was the last interaction that I had with my mom and I was under the impression that she told my dad, as he did not say anything to me the entire night. The next day I went through with the procedure. For the past 18 years I thought that my dad knew about this until a few months ago. My sister told me that he told her that he did not find out until 5 years after the fact that I was indeed pregnant. He told me sister that my mom phrased it as a question to him, asking what he would do if he found out that I was pregnant. Instead of telling my mom that he would make me have the abortion he said that they would have no choice but to help me. If I had known this 18 years ago I definitely would not have gone through with the procedure. I still carry a good amount of guilt and hatred towards myself because of this and I now have trust issues. If you cannot trust your own mother, who can you really trust in life."
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'I got a promotion and a large salary increase. It was shocking to me when this occurred. I did expect to have two offers.'
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"A few months ago I was up for a promotion. I was excited as it was well deserved. However, I found out that my promotion wasn't going to happen this year and HR blocked it. I was angry. I started applying to other jobs. When my management learned of this they were supportive but also wanted me to stay at my company. They decided to create a job for me to apply to that would allow me to get a promotion that HR could not block. They ended up being really slow about doing this so I continued with my job hunt. I was lucky enough to get two interviews. One of those interviews was at my current company and the other was at another company. I ended up getting an offer from the other company first. This forced my manager to hurry up and interview me and make me an offer for the job and promotion that I had been promised. The other offer was much larger than my manager was going to offer. He decided to match it so I would stay at my company. I ended up with a huge pay increase and my promotion."
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"My sister died in May of 1018. We get together every year for a Memorial. It's a time t o reflect and remember the good times with her."
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"My sister died in May of 2018. A few weeks later, we had a Memorial. Just some photos, food, stories swapped etc. It was very moving, and we all cried at some point. My sister was only 57, and it was suicide. Too young and so sad. We vowed that we would get together yearly to remember her. My niece lives fairly far away, as do the other people that were at the first one. This past year (June 2019 ), we all got together for another Memorial. We all met at a restaurant in Philadelphia where I live. It was a Greek place and it was a lunch gathering. We all chatted, and it was great to see everyone. I had made each person a sun-catcher out of glass beads and colored wire because my sister loved the sun. I didn't expect some of the reactions. Some people cried. After the restaurant, we went to a church that a family member belonged to and had desserts and coffee. I also made a memory box where everyone could write a memory they had of my sister, and then it was given to my niece. It was especially sad for me because I hadn't seen my sister in over 10 years, we were estranged. I had tried many times to get her to come to Philly, and I asked if I could come and see her. She refused every time. I'd give anything just to see her again. I do believe in God and heaven, so I have hope that I will see her some day. She suffered from mental illness, and she was always taking pills and drinking. She was never happy. I'm never happy either, but, I trudge on."
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'Alicia decided not get married and walked away in tears leaving Brian dejected and heartbroken. Brian had a hard time coming to terms with thw reality that had just hit him in the face'
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"We had waited so long for this day. It was finally here with us. The most important day for my Cousin Brian who was finally getting married to his long time Girlfriend Alicia. Alicia had been well known in our family as this humble down to earth Lady, graduated and working as a Nurse in a local Hospital. She had been engaged to Brian for as long as three years. Preparations had been made and the day was set. Everything was in place. The wedding gown was designed by Brian's High school deskmate Florence who had gone into designing. She loved designing since her days in high school. Brian's parents were the happiest as he was going to wed on her Mothers' Birthday. It was to be held at the Park where his parents held their Jubilee Celebration. It was looked upon to be one of the colourful weddings held in the family. Brian was enthusiastic and Happy as well. The most important day of his life was just a day away. We were all seated, quiet as the nice music played. Every body waiting for the time The bride and the Bridegroom were to take their vows. Whe the Preacher stood and read the scripture, every one was wating to hear the vows being taken. Brian took his place and took the Oath of life. It was Alicia's time and instead of ''I do'' Brian closed his eyes in pain. She instead said, ''NO I DON'T'' When he openened his eyes, the Bride was gone, gone forever."
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'My friends and I were allowed attend a meeting dealing with love and yoga. It was very informative and produced a fruitful discussion.'
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"About a week ago, some friends and I were allowed to attend a meeting dealing with love and yoga. It was so informative. We learned so much from this event. It produced such a fruitful discussion. We learned how the different poses can relate to your love life. And how sometimes making love is a series of yoga poses itself. I'll never actually use any of the information obtained, but it was valuable. I definitely can pass some of this on to others that I know who are active yogi's. They'll be able to benefit from the information. Some of my friends who were there were able to relate to the discussion. I mostly listened and observed. I met Denise who was one of the people giving a demonstration. I'm excited to say that we have a date tonight and I hope she practices some of those poses with me. My frineds were really interested in how the love and yoga mix. They stayed aferward to talk more to the master yogi."
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'My first day of school, My father dropped me off to school i was six years old i was admitted to the one grade and my teacher that time as Ms Fatema. i made some friends too.'
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"There are some memorable days in my life and they remain ever green in my heart. My first day of school is such a day. It was the month of January 2003. I was then only six years old. My father proposed that i should be admitted into a school in class on the next day. I felt very excited i could not think of anything else. I was always thinking about the school, the teachers, as i watched on TV. I could not even sleep well that night. The next morning my mother woke me early in the morning, she wash me very well, comb my hair and dress me in new clothes. Then i had breakfast and started for school with my father. He took me to the nearest CFB primary school of our locality at 9:30 am. The school was not very far from our home, so we walk all the way, it took us about 30 minutes to get to the school. When i stepped into the school compound with my father i was somewhat afraid. I saw many student s on the school campus, some were playing some where talking to each other. Finding myself in a new environment my heart started to beat, at first my father took me to the headmaster's room and request him to admit me in one grade, i was nervous but his smiling face and and gentle eyes put me to ease. He asked me my name and i answered him. then he pointed me a letter chart and ask me to say some letters. I could say them all because my mother taught me how to say it at home. Then he became very pleased at me and admitted me to one grade, then he called Ms Fatema the one grade teacher to take me to class. When i entered the class all the students in the class where staring at me, i felt a bit nervous once again to see the new faces, i sat down and at my leisure period, all my classmate started playing in the field, i felt very lonely and was loitering here and there, then they invited me to join them, i started playing, i felt myself like a free bird flying in the open sky. My school ends at 12pm, my mother was at the gate to receive me. I leapt into her arms she kissed me caught me at her arms. That was how i spent my first day of school. I left the school with a new experience and a cheerful mind. I shall never forget that day as long as i live."
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'Gas company had detected a leak. It took them 3 weeks to notify us. Then they said it would take another 3 weeks to get it repaired. It was an anxious long wait.'
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"Last month I was notified by Pacific Gas & Electric that they had found a small gas leak somewhere near the curb under the sidewalk between my property and my neighbor's. Wow. Immediately the images of San Bruno gas explosion and Northern California wildfires came into my head. Both events were the result of PG&E negligence. Maybe that was why they were proactive now. But they said they had found the leak the month prior, and they scheduled the repair for next month. They said it's such a small leak that it's not hazardous. Uh huh ... So it was an anxious long wait. Were we going to get blown up? I didn't smell anything. They said they used an instrument that could detect in parts per million, and it was a very, very small leak. Yeah, ok, but were we going to get blown up? No, they assured me. Last week they came, dug up the sidewalk, found the leak, and fixed it. I'm alive! Yea!"
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'Dropping children off at college and returning to a quiet house after a busy fun month getting them ready to go. Not being sure I am going to like it. Knowing I will miss them and the noise. It will take some getting use to.'
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"It is one thing to drop off one child at college but to drop off your last, is a whole other experience. Especially when you drop two off at once and go from an active busy household to a quiet dull home. Our kids were excited to go off to college. It was a busy fun summer. Made even busier towards the end with preparing the kids to return to school. One going back to her senior year the other to his sophomore year. Lucky for us they attend the same school, which does seem to make events like this a little easier. I can not imagine having to take them to other sides of the United Staes to go to school ,with different climates different start dates, different holidays.. That would be hard . It is nice to know your children were returning to the schools they choose to attend. They were returning to an enivornment they knew. They were going back to the arms of friends and even teachers they knew and had grown to care for. The drive home was long. The empty car held no chatter bugs. No one fighting over In N' Out or Chick filet. The radio didn't even play. Silence. Upon my return to the empty house I was content knowing they were happy where they were."
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'Island Jam with many bands and many friends and sun and fun. Long awaited trip that included hanging out with long time friends, going on a fishing trip, and meeting new friends. All of this centered around live music and my most favorite musician ever'
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'I roomed with a fellow caregiver friend of mine. We had not met before. It was a perfect time to get together under a different situation then we normally interacted in. We hung out during the day by the pools and we had so much fun. We drank and laughed and took photos. I introduced her to old friends of mine. My friend goes to bed early so i would spend my evenings with my old concert friends. We caught up and shared stories and laughs. I loved catching up with people as well as finally connecting with some I have known a long time but not met. People came from all over the world and it was so amazing. I ate lots of good food and drink. The music was amazing. The concerts were amazing. They did costume night each night and that was a lot of fun. Lots of glow paint and stuff. Band members walked around a bit and that was fun to have them interact with us in that way. The DJ at the pool at night was out of this world.'
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'My husband and I have decided to move out of state. When I told my local family, they were very unhappy about it. However, we feel that it is for the best.'
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"On November 6, 2019, I decided to tell my family about the decision that my husband and I made. We've decided to move out of state to start a new life elsewhere. We're just not happy with where we are currently. We want to get out of the cold and enjoy a better environment. I feel depressed here. Unfortunately my family was upset about this. They don't want us to leave. I understand why, they love us, and they'll miss us. But it's 2019, and there's plenty of ways that we can stay in touch. We can still talk to each other on facebook and through text messages and stuff. We don't even see each other much anyways, so it's not like us moving will be a big change in how my family and us interact. Even though they're not happy with our decision to move, it's going to be a final decision. We've come to terms with what we're doing. We've decided that this is the best decision for us. Although we'll see my family less, we'll still be able to keep in touch, and I'm sure I'll still visit them and they'll visit us. So, goodbye to Illinois, and hello to Florida!"
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'I just recently attended my 50th High School Reunion. I was able to reconnect with old friends. My very first boyfriend was there and I was able to introduce him to my husband.'
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"I just attended my 50th High School Reunion. I was able to reconnect with past classmates from over 50 years ago. This was due to alot of my classmates also attended my grade school. So, I was remembering some of them from over 60 years. The memories that were relived by each of us had us laughing and crying. I was grateful for the time I was able to see my old friends. For a while, I was reluctant to attend this event. This is because my best friend had died a few years prior. She and I had attended our 20th reunion together. In high school, we were inseparable. Wherever she was, I was right there along with her. At this reunion, they had a table set up with votive candles and cards in front of each one stating the classmate's name and the date of their death. It was very emotional for me to see so many names of classmates I knew and missed. At my table was my neighborhood girlfriend, who lived down the street from me growing up. She and her husband had moved out of state, as I and my husband did. Out of our 367 graduates, 93 have passed away that we know of. We had 75 graduates attend this reunion. Not bad for 50 years. It was a night I will long remember. I am definitely glad that I attended."
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'I went to my in-laws house over the weekend. We ate, drank, and played games at their house at at various restaurants and bars.'
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'I spent the weekend at my in laws house last month. We drank beer and and had shots of whiskey. We played board games and went out to the bars. We drank more beer and shots at the bar. We played pool and darts at the bar. We ate snacks and went to the irish pub to have a meal there. We also ate at a old bank that was converted into a restaurant. We also had a few meals at home and we helped cook. The best food we ate was at the mexican restaurant. They had the best quesadillas. The most memorable thing that happened was that I hit all bulls eyes on the dart board one game. I had never done that before and I am not very good at playing dart. That is what surprised me the most. Overall the weekend was very good, except it was very uncomfortable sleeping on the pull out sofa instead of sleeping in my bed. But it was fun, and was had good times and good food.'
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'I was offered a job in a nontraditional way. I am going to work for a friend of a friend. I was not expecting the job opportunity at all, and was very surprised at how it came about.'
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'I like to party. This isnt a fact that I readily hide from people. Last week i was at my friend kyles house and just having a good time. Kyles other friends from school were there and I met a few of them. Apparently drunk me was so friendly and charming that one of Kyles friends took note of it. The next day I got a text from his friend charlie asking if i would help him market his alcohol brand. He had it geared towards rager parties and college aged people. I accepted and he even gave me a signing bonus. My role is to go to these host parties and just be me while having a good time. I was so surprised that my drinking and partying could lead to a career. The first event is this friday night and I am stoked. I get to be paid to drink booze and meet girls. I dont think there could be any better line of work. I know this isnt a long term thing, but it beats delivering pizza like I was doing. I am living the dream right now and never want to wake up.'
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'My story is about my grandfathers funeral. I was asked to do the service and eulogy. I wrote about how the funeral went and my feelings towards the event and my grandfather.'
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"Just this past Wednesday on August the 21st I performed my Grandfathers funeral. He was 91 and an inspiration to me. I am actually his name sake and name after him. It was a great honer to do his eulogy and cover the wonderful accomplishments of such a great man that I have looked up to my entire life. All of my family were in attendance, which was a great thing as most of us haven't seen one another in many years. My grandfather always cared about family and made family the point and purpose of his life. Unfortunately, it required his passing to remind us of the that value. He fathered six children and had 9 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren and they were all in attendance to honor his home going! Just two years before, in the same month I did my father's funeral and everyone was in attendance there as well. I mention this because at my grandfather's funeral the place was packed, save one empty chair. It was a touching thought that there was one chair left in honor of my father. I mentioned this in the eulogy and hoped that all in the family who know that there is a chair in our home and at the table for everyone one of them! During the funeral I preached a message as well on the lives that are lived as an anchor for others. My Grandfather was most certainly and anchor for all of us as well as grandpa and grandmas house was an anchor for our souls when traveling into town. I also expressed how our faith anchors us in the decisions that we make in life. That many time we can drift too far off course and that life has a way of blowing from our course through storms. Although the winds of life are experienced by everyone, we do not have to allow them to shipwreck us or our faith. Through faith and trust we hold on and are anchored to the rock! This was the way that my grandpa lived and that is the way that I hope to live my life as well. In all it was a bitter sweet event for me and there were tears of sadness and of joy. I am glad that my family trusted me to minister to all in this trying time. I was very humbled and honored to do it."
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'I went into the hospital in April because i was not feeling well. I was diagnosed with A-fib, and some liver problems. After being released I have changed my life, and am doing much better now.'
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"On April 10th I went to the emergency room because I wasn't feeling well, and my body was swollen. I was admitted with heart and liver problems. I found out I have liver damage, and Atrial Fibrilation (A-fib). I was in the ICU for 4 days. It was scary, and has completely changed my life. My wife and daughters came and stayed with me most of the time. The did a lot of test on me, and took a lot of blood. I wasn't afraid of dying right then, but was afraid of dying later. The doctors really put my mind at ease and help me not be afraid. After I was released from the hospital I began treatment with medicines, and started getting in much better shape. I have quit drinking, started exercising, and have lost 50 pounds. There is a lot more to do, like more medicines and possibly some procedures to my heart. I will deal with those as they come. I feel so much better, and continue to follow my doctors orders and am looking forward to a long, healthier life. I'm not ready to die yet."
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'My sister told me she was pregnant. We got emotional and went shopping for baby clothes. I am finally an aunt and I cannot wait to see and hold the baby.'
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"It had been about 3 months since I last saw my sister. We worked and lived in different states, so we couldn't see each other often. For the holidays, she invited me to her home to celebrate. A couple days before Christmas, she spilled the big news. She told me she was pregnant as we were sitting in her couch in her living room. I couldn't believe it. She had been trying to get pregnant for the past two years, and hadn't been able to. It had taken a great toll on both her and her husband. I didn't like seeing her unhappy. Yet here she was, telling me that I would soon be an aunt. We both started crying tears of joy. She had wanted to be a mom for so long and soon it would become a reality. We decided to go to the mall to see what we could buy for the baby. We were both so excited and I wanted to buy my little nephew or niece something. I love my sister a lot and this news was amazing-- not just for her, but for me too. I had always wanted to be an aunt."
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'the week that I started my new job my house flooded. The insurance company will not cover any of it, but at least we are all okay. Really crummy way to celebrate your birthday.'
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'Man diary, yesterday I wrote about how great my life was going and the unthinkable happened. There was a huge rain storm and my house flooded. This sucks because the insurance is not going to cover it. At least I started my new job for more income and better benefits. That is the one good thing going for me. I am glad that everyone was ok but the money needed will take years to make up. The worst part was it was my birthday when this happened. We had just got done singing happy birthday when the sirens went off. I got the alert on the phone and shrugged it off not thinking about it. I got done opening the last present when the water started rising in the basement. I put some towels down and went to bed thinking it will stop. I wish this is where it ended. I woke up a few hours later to the dog barking. That is when the trouble happened. There was about 2 feet of water in the basement and continued to rise. A few hours later it was up to the stairs and I had to get everyone else out. Luckily we ran uphill to the neighbors and they were safe. Unforunately I went back and everything was almost underwater. Once again, I am happy we all left, but not the best birthday ever.'
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'My husband and I went on vacation to Canada. We saw Niagara Falls, shopped and dined out. We were stopped on the way hom by immigration for bringing back too much alcohol!'
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"My husband and I visited Niagara Falls (Canadian side) during August this year. It was a long drive from our New England home but it was worth the effort; it was my first time seeing the Falls and it was breath taking. I loved the sound of the Falls, the depth of it and the length of the waterfall itself. During our vacation my husband and I stayed in a hotel room at The Hilton. Although the hotel was large and clean our room was next to the stair well and was very noisy so we did not sleep well. Despite that we still enjoyed ourselves. During the vacation we had a high quality steak dinner at a beautiful restaurant, visited the casino and walked around the mall. We didn't win anything at the casino! During our trips to the mall we sampled hot sauces (bought some) and sampled the local wine which I found to be very sweet tasting. It was at this mall that I bought a dress for an upcoming wedding. It was at this mall where we saw the food critic during dinner: We had just placed our food order when a lady sat down behind us and ordered several items from the menu. She also asked questions and asked to be re-seated twice. It was obvious she was a restaurant critic. We asked her who she worked for but she just laughed and wouldn't say. On the way home we stopped at the duty free store and bought some Canadian whisky and a bottle of the wine we had sampled. However, we had been ill informed about the amount of alcohol we could bring into the US and we were stopped at immigration and had to pay duty on the alcohol!"
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'This story deals with an unexpected occurrence during a recent conference of mine. I was forced to take on an unplanned role with very little time to prepare, but it went well in the end.'
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'Approximately four months ago, I attended my annual work conference. However, this conference was unique to the extent that I was actively looking for a new job this year. As a result, my conference was filled with job interviews rather than attending sessions. While this would seem to be a distinct event during the conference, and any one of these interviews would classify as a memorable event, the most memorable event actually came from something other than an interview. That is, I had planned and organized a session for the conference. As part of this session, I had enlisted the help of another person to act as a discussion leader to tie together the other presentations. This person is widely regarded within my field, and would attract a large audience. However, approximately one hour before the session, he emailed me to tell me that he had food poisoning. As a result, he would be unable to attend the session. This left me in a bit of a bind. With approximately one hour to prepare, I was forced to take on the discussant role - having never done so before. In so doing, it would be painfully obvious that I had little time to prepare. However, when it came time for the session, the other presentations went longer than anticipated, fortunately leaving me less time to lead the discussion. This had the effect of masking my lack of preparedness. As such, the discussion went relatively smoothly, even though I had no prior experience doing so in this setting. In sum, this session was memorable due to the late change and excuse from my enlisted discussion leader. However, it was also memorable because it pushed me outside of my comfort zone and helped me grow.'
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'I have medical problems that cause pain and I also have blood sugar problems. I applied for social security disability because I worked for the state for 15 years and I believe my problems were made worse from the stress. My claim was denied but I plan to hire a lawyer to help me with the case.'
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"I went to a doctor appt to see if I qualify for social security disability. I have several health problems that I acquired in 2014 after some very stressful events at work. I've been dealing with these problems for about 5 years. I was aware that my claim would be denied because that is common so I will hire a lawyer. I work part time from home but there is no way I can work a regular full time job. I was working but I was in pain and I was exhausted after work. I ate a lot of convenience frozen food and I bought take out dinner on the way home because I was too tired to cook. At night when I'm sleeping I wake up from arthritis pain. I also have pre-diabetes with hypoglycemia. In the morning I need to eat high protein food every hour or two to get my blood sugar up and stable then I'm usually ok for the rest of the day. I worked at a middle school and when kids bump into me in the hallway that hurt. If I'm on my feet a lot my body hurts. I walk slowly because of my arthritis pain and I was diagnosed with spinal spondylolisthesis of my lumbar 5 which is basically a slipped disc of the vertebrae. Since I have trouble sleeping sometimes I need to take a nap during the day. Sometimes I have incontinence."
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'I was worried about how my son took the news that he wouldn\'t be transferring schools like originally thought. But any doubts I had ceased when I saw he had doodled himself with the words "I am very happy" on his art pad.'
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"The job I currently have moves me around quite a bit. Every few years I know a move is coming and I prepare myself for another relocation. I have a family to worry about now but my son and my wife know this is a part of my job. My son is still young but old enough to at least understand that when I tell him we have to move somewhere else because of my job he knows what that means. I'm not far away from retirement but I am sure I have a few moves left before I can call it quits. I know my wife is good with the moving but I am not sure what the effects will be on my son when he gets older. He has never said anything to me or my wife but as of right now I can only assume that he likes moving. He has a few friends but he has done well making new friends wherever we have moved. I had been informed a couple of months ago that me and my family would be relocating to Texas. Texas was a place that we had never lived and we were all looking forward to moving there. About five weeks ago while I was at work I was told that I was not relocating and that I can and/or need to stay where I was. I wasn't sure how to feel about this because I was already in a routine and I had already told my family we were moving. I sat them down when I got home from work and told them what happened. My wife was supportive but my son simply said okay. That evening when I went to say goodnight to my son, he had his art pad by his night stand and it was open. I looked at the page it was on it he had written (I am very happy.) After seeing that I gave him a big hug and told him goodnight. I was really happy to see that he had wrote that because now I knew how he felt and that he was happy to stay where we were."
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'I was given a surprise promotion at work that seemed to have come out of no where. I had a talk with my Operations Manager about the position and it was offered to me without hesitation.'
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'This happened about two months ago, but i was offered a surprise promotion at work! I had talked with my operations manager about it and they gave me the position without any hesitation or issues. It all started when I worked hard at my job for a good five years. I work at a rug factory as a creeler. My job consists of loading the machines with the different colors of thread for different rugs at the right time. I work a good ten to twelve shifts and never missed a day or have ever been late. It is hard work but I have always made decent money. I noticed that the floor manager position had just opened up recently. I know that they make so much more money and all you have to do is sit their and manage the other creelers. I went in and asked the operations manager about that position and they said "it\'s all yours. you start on Monday!" He told me that my pay was to increase by ten thousand a year and the only thing I have to do is make sure that they do their jobs. Also if someone calls out then I would have to take over if no one else could cover the shift. I was so excited that I went out and celebrated that night at the bar with other co-workers. They all were very glad to have me as their boss. I was glad to take the position!'
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