AN UNPLANNED PREGNANCY in 1976 forever changed the course of my life. I was twenty years old, serving in the United States Army, and unprepared for the responsibility of parenthood. At first, denial gave me sanctuary. The tests were wrong. My cycle was off. Things like this didn’t happen to women with so many dreams [...]
Full Circle
by Michele H. Mirabile
Contest Honorees, Essays, Winter 2009
Beginnings
by E. K. Beck
2008 heather campbell essay contest winner WE MADE A SCENE at preschool last week, which is odd for us. But there we were for the whole line of cars to see— hysterical daughter and guilt-ridden mother. Mei’s face was pressed to my chest and her tears soaked my shirt. I felt her breath as she [...]
Fall/Winter 2007, Focus Column
A Living Sacrifice
by Kathryn Lynard Soper
I SHIFTED MY WEIGHT on the pew and sighed as the sacrament meeting speaker stood to begin his talk. Seven months pregnant, I was swollen and sore, big-bellied, and exhausted from the constant demands of my five young children who were crawling on and off my nearly nonexistent lap, whispering (or not) in my ear, [...]