The Secret Life of a Teenage Caregiver (As Seen on the Huffington Post)

The keys of my computer made a series of muted clicks as I typed, the computer screen giving off a soft glow in my small bedroom. At 15 years old I should have gone to bed long ago, but no one was there to reprimand me. My father had passed out on the couch hours...

A Legacy of Loss (As Seen on the Huffington Post)

The graveyard is calm as I make my way through the headstones. There are no dark winged ravens watching me, no eerie silence haunting me as I walk. Just the sounds of car horns in the distance, the world carrying on as I make my way through the winding paths. My father died when I...

Orphan Sunday

It's cold and crisp outside this morning here in Dallas, the kind of weather that November should always call to mind. The sun peeks out from the clouds, and my dog Sasha is curled up on the terrace- it's the perfect day for her and her thick winter coat. These are the kind of days when...

Photo Memories (As seen on TheWARMplace.org)

Growing up, my mother had a long formal coffee table with four drawers that sat in our living room. Within those drawers were hundreds of photos, slides, and albums of my mother’s childhood, teenage years, and even our family’s early adventures. For as long as I can remember, that coffee table was a treasure chest...

An Empty Father’s Day (As Seen on the Huffington Post)

I have passed the rows of Father's Day cards when shopping for weeks now. It's like a knife to my heart every time. I even stopped and read a few last week, seeing what it would do to me to read words I'll never get to say to you again. The grief is different now,...

Auld Lang Syne: Saying goodbye to 2015

Without a doubt, 2015 might have been one of the hardest years of my life. Looking back, the past year was one filled with countless change, an inordinate amount of stress, and many lessons learned the hard way. It is also a year that taught me so many lessons about myself and the  unpredictable nature...

The Big Mistake I Made While Planning the Proposal, by #TheOneAndOnlyGraysonHaye

Personal note: The man who wrote the below excerpt has been my biggest supporter, encourager, and grounding influence over the past 4 1/2 years. He was the impetus behind competing in pageants, the one who helped me learn the value of seeing a movie by yourself in a strange city, and the man who spoke...