“He kissed me underwater, and later, he told me that I was beautiful, even at 220 pounds.”
New York | July 2005 to August 2006 | By TIEGEN KOSIAK

“Lying in my mother’s bed, tangled in the scent of her Jontue perfume, I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over.”
Alabama | October 1976 | By CLAIRE ADELSAY BROWNE

“In schoolboy crush mode, I carried around the letter and some pictures she sent me.”
Texas and Washington, DC | 1985 and 2004 | By DL

“Each year, the imaginary stakes grew, and it filled my Dad with childlike glee.”
South Salem, New York | 1989 | By LISA FAIRMAN

“As I stare at this woman and her little boy, something begins to happen to me.”
Lima, Peru | December 2005 | By VICTOR GONZALES

“Christmas in Georgia is not magical or pretty. The weather and the landscape just look dead….”
Georgia | 2004 | By GINA BASTONE

“Suddenly, inspiration overcame discretion, and going against caution and better judgment, I pulled over.”
Mesa, Arizona | Christmas 2003 | By NATALIE WALKER WHITLOCK

“What had been a landscape of stark beauty suddenly became alien and hostile.”
Ft. Bliss, Texas | 1957 | By JOEL VANCE

“We had enough to live, but we were most assuredly malnourished.”
Chattanooga, Tennessee | 1977 | By KATIE FLANNERY

#1: Across the Street | By KENDAL A. RAUTZHAN
#2: Cremains | By JOYCE WOLF