March 2018. I woke up and my jaw was shaking — my whole body was shaking. I sat up in my bed and stayed there for a couple of minutes trying to wake up. I swung my feet down on the tile floor and tried...

That morning, nothing meant much to me. Sinking into my chair, I tried not to fall asleep as my parents discussed home improvements with the refurbisher. I scanned the room—between the chatter and the...

There isn’t much that compares to the magic a child feels when they run downstairs on Christmas morning to find a pile of presents under the tree, or when they stand under the boom of fireworks over...

It all started in 5th grade homeroom when I was the new kid. I had just moved from a different side of Highland Village. It was my first time back to the school since moving. I couldn’t wait to see the...

I confidently walked into the second grade classroom in Little Rock, Arkansas that radiated new possibilities. In the back of the room, the class lima bean plants were in little plastic cups. A large window...

The clicks of my 5 in. heels echoed as we hiked the stairs looking for our row. The cold stadium seats brought goosebumps down my arms, and the anticipation grew in the air. My grandpa’s Old Spice cologne...

For months I woke up in the morning and expected the same old thing, more clumps of my hair to continue falling out from my anxiety. I prepared myself for another day of feeling less in control than the...

Beams of sunlight stream through the window and onto my white-frame bunk bed. All is silent but the creak of old floorboards in our rented vacation home. Aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents,...