North Pole ...continued...

I went to about a dozen elementary schools from Kindergarten through 8th grade, though I skipped a full year. Many of them in and around Chicago, primarily the south side, but also in Big Rapids Michigan and Hollywood, Florida. We were not a military family, nor were either of my parents climbing any kind of corporate ladder, but we moved around even more than most of those kinds of families. We moved mostly because the rent and or utility bills were due. Sometimes we moved because the landlord found out really how many kids or dogs or adults we had in the house. Funny we usuall ...continued...

Chapter 1: Sunday, January 7 Rick Players looked up from his snowmobile at the jagged peaks of the Rockies. A cold wind stung his cheeks, and he smiled at its bite. It was the last afternoon of his twin teenage sons’ winter break. For this day only, Rick had ignored his job as CEO of PlayLand, the toy company his family owned. Just one afternoon with his boys. That’s all he wanted. Well, if he were honest, he wanted out of the job altogether. He hadn’t realized when he took over from his father that leading PlayLand would cost him his freedo ...continued...

Dragon Sword-Book 3 in The Battle Wizard Saga Chapter 1 Black magic smells like nothing else. Worse than the oily smoke of a rancid grease fire overlaid with a tang of decayed meat. Its evil wrapped around and layered the tongue like a thick paste of ashes and motor oil. Only Sig could smell it. A good extra sense since his job was hunting evil. Sig walked the middle of a narrow, cracked asphalt road bordered by a cornfield to the left. Cars and pickups lined both sides. A sharp steeple rose above the whitewashed wooden building on the right. Morning sun reflected from red and gold pa ...continued...

Watch Out For Bears Read any literature from Yellowstone National Park today and you’ll find all sorts of warnings about feeding the bears or otherwise interfering with their normal beary kinds of activities. Occasionally you may see in the news a sad story about some unwary hiker, or worse a tale of some misguided nature nut who thought he could commune with the wild beasts, who gets mauled by a bear. People know, for the most part, anyway, that they need to stay out of the bear’s comfort zone. Which is why I just can’t under ...continued...

Ellen Morrell Final Reflection Throughout this semester I learned such a great deal I didn't even imagine we would get through as much interesting material as we did. I felt this class was so special to me because it so important to constantly be learning about the culture and environment around us. Not only will this allow you to be a more well rounded human being but it will help vastly in the health workplace I am trying to achieve. I feel I can move forward in professional goals feeling more culturally aware and effective in the way I can communicate with clients or p ...continued...

The way I see it is if I am so unhappy with how I look on the outside then I need to seriously buckle down and deal with it, only I am so addicted to the chips and the pop that I feel it is my crutch. I end up at the store buying things I dont need without even giving The big blow out! Mom entered my room, I can only imagine after grilling my sibling about her weight, spending habits and other things. She was on the war path and it just so happened that I was the nect victim. I heard a knock which lead to her helping herself into my room as though she owned it. To be honest, she pays the ...continued...

Ngayong araw nag chat kaming dalawa sa messenger... Maybe my second chance na mangyayari... Pero I'm not expecting kung meron kasi alam kong masasaktan lang ako ulit... I will not mess anything right now... ...continued...

This story involves a number of ficticous characters most of whom you will recognize on site if you are part of the group. As I pulled out of the driveway and headed for CHWC a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community development corporation dedicated to improving the quality of life in downtown KCK which is located in Fire Station No. 9 that’s at 2 South 14th Street in Kansas City, Kansas and was built by Willian E. Harris over 100 years ago and declared a <a href="http://en.wikip ...continued...

Mom was my best friend and though I feel her presence around me often, it is always strongest during Mother’s Day. Two years ago I was in a very dark place, overwhelmed with the chaos in my life I decided it was time to work on my office at home, trying to find and create order. As I opened a file drawer to clean it out, inside was an old blue folder with papers inside. Keep or throw I wondered as I opened the folder. Inside was a copy of the Constitution of the United States, the one mom helped me memorize in 8th grade. Ne ...continued...

Riding Life’s Rollercoaster by Carolyn Unruh as told to Sally Jadlow My husband, Dave, and I graduated from K-State in Manhattan, Kansas in June 1967. We married that same month. Dave had been a member of the ROTC program at KSU and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. Dave finished graduate school in 1968. He got a 1-year deferment from Uncle Sam. We moved to Kansas City so Dave could accept a marketing position with IBM. One year later, Dave received his papers to report for active duty. At the outset of our marriage, we wanted children. I knew from ...continued...

The entire team is catching a couple hours of sleep before we make our final push to the pole. I, on the other hand, stupidly volunteered to stay awake so that someone could watch the stove for heat and so someone could wake everyone else up at 4am (it is 3am now). Our goal is to make it to the pole before 12 noon so we can catch a ride back to Barneo with another team on the helicopter. While it is not a major thing if we miss the ride, as we can camp at the pole until we can arrange another ride, but we have made such good time over the last 150+ miles that it is now a point of pride to h ...continued...

FIRST CHRISTMAS ©2014 By Rolland Love rtl@kc.rr.com The last sound I heard as I drifted off to sleep was the howling wind. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a scream from the back bedroom. My dog Trouser came over and licked my face. I sat up and draped a wool blanket around my shoulders. Then slid out of bed and walked across a cold hardwood floor. I found myself standing at the bedroom door. The scene was strange and scary, like something in a dream. Sitting on white wicker tables, one on each side of my mother and father’s bed, were ke ...continued...

Our message meet again... And he ask me if what will be my decision about our relationship... I think if love is true then it will fall in the perfect place... I miss him and love him since the day we become us... ...continued...

When he was in his early eighties, my father taught me about the possible depths of his love. I knew my parents had a fine relationship but I never realized how much my father adored my mother. There was little hint of his admiration and passion in their visible every day relationship. Only after my mother sank into Alzheimer’s did my grief-worn father reveal his immeasurable love. Oh he didn’t talk about his feelings: he was, after all, a WWII veteran and a man raised to stoically endure for the sake of his family. But he showed me his devotion every day. Lesson I: “Is ...continued...