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The Wacky Cancer Christmas
The Wacky Cancer Christmas

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. [...]

Every Family's Got One2018-05-30T10:05:10-04:00March 12, 2018|2 Comments

The Day My Dad Took Me to Live With the Pigs
The Day My Dad Took Me to Live With the Pigs

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 [...]

Every Family's Got One2019-11-18T12:42:41-05:00March 7, 2018|1 Comment

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 [...]

Every Family's Got One2018-02-28T08:41:02-05:00February 28, 2018|8 Comments

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 [...]

Every Family's Got One2019-11-18T12:45:53-05:00February 21, 2018|7 Comments

Love, Hugs, Magic, and DNA

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Heather Osterman-Davis Ethan, just shy of 2, is thrilled to be on a plane. Outside of that, he has no idea why this trip is such a big deal. He doesn’t yet know that our family is complicated or worry about ownership and identity the way his father and I do. To him the world is simple: love, hugs, and magic. This isn’t a vacation. We’re racing to get to Odessa, Texas, before Jeannie, my friend Eddie’s mother, dies. Jeannie is genetically Ethan’s grandmother, though until now we’ve been reluctant to consider [...]

Every Family's Got One2018-05-30T10:14:12-04:00February 14, 2018|3 Comments

The Day I Visited a Sex Shop With My 70-Year-Old Mother
The Day I Visited a Sex Shop With My 70-Year-Old Mother

The Day I Visited a Sex Shop With My 70-Year-Old Mother

By Every Family's Got One Guest Writer -- Kathy Radigan “So who has had sex today?” the pretty — and a little-too-perky for 10:00 am — tour guide asks. “And sex with yourself doesn’t count.” Perhaps a “Sex and the City” bus tour of NYC wasn’t such a great idea for a bonding experience with my 70-year-old mother. A few weeks earlier, I was given the opportunity to review a company that provided Experience Gifts, and it seemed like the perfect thing to do with my mom. But now that we were actually on the bus, I had to question [...]

Every Family's Got One2019-11-18T11:20:21-05:00February 7, 2018|4 Comments