myTakes: Family & Friends

I recently had to say goodbye to one of my best friends because he's moving. There were lots of tears, stress, and bittersweet moments. It was hard for me. But now that I'm feeling a little better, I decided to make this...

Mother’s day is vastly approaching, and this Mother’s Day, I wanted to make sure that the woman who literally had her entrails removed and placed on a metal dolly to birth me understands just how much I value the person...

Friendship That one word that makes me both want to smile and punch a wall Do you remember back in kindergarten when everyone was friends with each other? Those were the good old days, Back when no one cared how expensive...

Why My Parents Are My Best Friends Not many are fortunate enough to get to call their parents their best friends, in their lifetime. When I was younger, I used to laugh whenever my Dad would tell me “Your Mother and I...

1. Your smile makes others smile 2. Your smile makes you look more attractive 3. Your smile makes a good impression on others 4. Smiling can make your heart feel at ease, if you are upset 5. Smiling makes you look...

We've all heard the term "packrat" and know that it's not a pleasant way to describe someone. But I think a positive spin can be applied to the term to make it less offensive. Yes, I do sometimes keep things that I no...

There will come a time in your life where some relationship you have with a good friend, a parent, a spouse, or a significant other may break, dissolve, and fizzle out. Things like lack of communication, mistrust, lack of...

"At whatever age is most smart people get this idea that they are so smart. They also try to develop vulnerability around relinquishing that label. So the difference between telling a child "You did a fantastic job" and...

As many of you may know, my cousin SweetHomicidalQueen and I live together. We've found that we're basically the same person (apart from the differences in how we carry ourselves/communicated and such). We've gotten...

I always wanted a little brother. It's not that I don't love having a sister, there's just something about the brother/sister relationship that is appealing. I thought I'd never get to experience that, but going away to...

Whether you are gay or straight, supportive of or opposed to or ambivalent about GLBT rights, it is important to acknowledge LGBT people's history and interactions with mainstream heterosexual society. Here are some...

Dealing with someone who has a defensive personality tends to be very irritating. You can't tell them they did something rue or disrespectful without them turning it around on you and acting like the victim. They took...

The Beginning Time for a little background info on me. I come from a negative family. Not abusive, per-se, but definitely not all rainbows and unicorns, either. My older brother would do everything in his power to destroy...

A while back I had this friend. She had been dating this guy for a while, and she was just crazy about him. I never liked him. I thought he was an arrogant jackass and he treated her like shit. That was one woman's...

It has now been four and a half years since my father passed away. I was 16 years old and my Junior year of high school was just beginning. My dad and I didn’t have a close-knit relationship. He was extremely busy with...

I've been to a lot of funerals: my maternal grandparents, my great uncle, 2 of my great aunts and their husbands, my aunt, and two of my cousins. I even had to go to my great aunt's funeral on my birthday one year, but...