• "Collins Family 23" drawn in the sand.
    General Thoughts

    First summer beach vacation

    Childhood vacations I remember the first time I went to the beach with my family when I was a teenager. We didn’t stay right on the beach, nor did we swim in the ocean, but it was an experience all the same. I remember getting to go out on the beach at night, and I saw a shooting star. I made a wish on that star to meet the man I was supposed to spend my life with by the time I was 23, and it came true. I met Jonathan right before my 23rd birthday. Road trips were always our thing because the expense of flying was out of…

  • Essays,  General Thoughts

    Back to school

    My children start school tomorrow. Drew will be in 5th grade, and Meredith will be in 1st grade. They should still be babies as far as I’m concerned. I honestly don’t know where the summer went. It seems to pass by quicker now that I’m older and no longer in school. As a child, the summer seemed endless, full of lazy days and adventures. My siblings and I didn’t have the same amount of electronics my children have. Often, I think it was better that way. My sisters, brother, and I had to use our imaginations most of the time. We rode our bikes around the circle driveway, sometimes playing…

  • Artwork,  General Thoughts,  High School Short Stories,  Short Stories

    The Summer of Reality

    This story was part of the collection of writing samples I submitted for the Creative Writing Scholarship contest at Arkansas Tech University in Spring 1999. I placed 4th, so I was pretty excited about that. The scholarship paid for my books for my first year in college.  The Summer of Reality, 1999 The last day that I was ever fifteen, I went to the mall with my Mom, my aunt Carrie, and my best friend Melanie. Earlier that morning, I mailed a letter that could change my whole life if the receiver decided to at least humor me. During the previous school year, I had developed a crush on a new boy…