EmailFacebookInstagramXYouTube

Every Family's Got One

About Every Family's Got One

Barbara Herel is the founder and producer of Every Family's Got One. She is a writer and storyteller, wife and mother, and a recovering middle child. (You bet she has some stories to tell.) You can find her work in places like, Scary Mommy, Motherly, Adoptive Families, on page 135 in the anthology Tick Tock: Essays on Becoming a Parent After 40 (published by Dottir Press), and right here on Every Family’s Got One.

IVF and God’s Grace

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Kristen Hewitt I’ll never forget that call from the IVF nurse who had become my friend at the clinic: “Your FSH level is down to 13, if you want to try for a second baby you have to start the injections today.” I was shocked, “But…wait…I mean I don’t have the drugs!” “Come in now and use ours, you can re-stock them later. It’s now or never,” she urged. Talk about pressure! I didn’t have time to think, or talk it over with my husband who was on the fence of [...]

2018-05-30T10:01:52-04:00March 28, 2018|1 Comment
Read More

Passover and Easter, Easter and Passover

By Every Family's Got One Founder -- Barbara Herel During my elementary school days, when there were only Judeo-Christian holidays on the calendar to celebrate, the teacher would inquire about the religious affiliations of the class. “Raise your hand if you celebrate Easter and Christmas,” she directed, and my hand, along with most of my classmates, shot up. “Now, raise your hand if you celebrate Passover and Hanukkah.” Again, my hand shot up, much to the confusion of everyone; my teacher gently admonishing me with “You can’t celebrate both, Barbara.” Oh, but I could. And I did. You see, my [...]

2019-11-18T12:39:19-05:00March 21, 2018|10 Comments
Read More

The Wacky Cancer Christmas

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Chad Taylor   My mom was dying of cancer. Hilarious way to start a story, I know.   When you’re faced with that ever-present, numbing truth, though, you try to find the funny where you can.  Even when you’re searching for them, the laughs surprise you, bringing on ribcage-rattling guffaws that can finally clear your head, if only for a few minutes. By the time of this story, I was either out of college or nearly so, with my sisters in similar boats, but two or five years behind me, respectively.  [...]

2018-05-30T10:05:10-04:00March 12, 2018|2 Comments
Read More

The Day My Dad Took Me to Live With the Pigs

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Kathy Radigan The best parenting lesson I ever received came from my dad. And I was only five. Back then, family trips to Eisenhower Park were one of my favorite things to do. No visit was complete until we visited the pigs at the park’s small petting zoo. Whenever my two younger sisters or I dared to get a little out of line, my parents would warn us that if we didn’t behave, they would send us to live with the pigs. This threat was made lightly enough that we were pretty [...]

2019-11-18T12:42:41-05:00March 7, 2018|1 Comment
Read More

A Witch Story

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Jessica Sarlin I’ve been protecting my kids from The Wizard of Oz for a while, figuring it was too intense, too surreal for their young minds.  Given their reaction to the animatronic Halloween witch at the hardware store last year, I was pretty sure that more witch would equal more nightmares and let’s face it: Margaret Hamilton plays a seriously scary green menace... the witch of witches. I changed my mind based on their reaction to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Amazingly, they took the Oompa-Loompas in stride and were [...]

2018-02-28T08:41:02-05:00February 28, 2018|8 Comments
Read More

A Lapsed Catholic

By Every Family's Got One Founder -- Barbara Herel I was 13. Waiting anxiously in a long line of Catholic parishioners. Thinking that with each echo-y footstep, I was getting closer and closer to the ornate confessional box. Finally, it was my turn to part the heavy crimson curtain and go inside. In the darkness of the confessional, I knelt down on the padded kneeler and faced the wooden window. It quickly slid open with a small thud, revealing a grated metal screen... And the Catholic priest. I’ve seen this whitehaired priest before, but I don’t know his name. Going to confession [...]

2019-11-18T12:45:53-05:00February 21, 2018|7 Comments
Read More
THE PAGES ON THIS SITE MAY RECEIVE COMPENSATION IF A PRODUCT IS PURCHASED THROUGH ONE OF OUR REFERRAL LINKS. OWNED & OPERATED BY IMPROV MOM PRODUCTIONS LLC • COPYRIGHT © 2021 EVERY FAMILY’S GOT ONE • SITE DESIGNED BY MICHAEL CHOW MEDIA
EmailFacebookInstagramXYouTube
Go to Top