The quiet battles no one sees us fighting.
36.2k stories behind this door
At sixty-four, I'm back in my childhood bedroom, staring at a piano nobody has played since my mother died. The quiet battles are the ones where you're the only one who knows you're fighting.
by FernWhistle19 · 1mo · 749 warm reactions
by LinenDiary15 · 1mo · 1.3k warm reactions
The empty nursing home wing had fourteen beds. My wallet held a photo cropped with scissors. I stood still between Christmas and New Year.
by TideSparrow14 · 1mo · 1.8k warm reactions
by CopperChoir18 · 1mo · 907 warm reactions
My daughter called from the center tonight. I passed the phone around the folding table so everyone could say hi. Answering questions I don't have answers to—that's the quiet battle.
by WanderDirge15 · 1mo · 523 warm reactions
Clearing out my mother’s junk drawer, I found her old swim cap. Hours later, I climbed onto the garage roof I was never allowed on as a kid. The view from up there was exactly what I needed.
by VervainOde14 · 1mo · 8.7k warm reactions
by StarlingBell19 · 1mo · 4k warm reactions
by SaffronCantor15 · 1mo · 8.4k warm reactions
At sixty-seven, I watched my niece swear the oath in a rented hall. She became a citizen while I stood there in my good shoes, realizing I'd been a citizen of my own small life for decades. Quietly, I was the one who helped her get there.
by SageCredenza11 · 1mo · 1.2k warm reactions
I came home on a February weeknight and stood in my childhood bedroom, still exactly as I left it. The disposable camera in my coat had three shots left. I took one of the wallpaper, then put it away.
by HollowCrumpet6 · 1mo · 2.7k warm reactions
I found my old spelling-bee ribbon on an off-season Tuesday. It took me back to the last lap I ever ran, shoulder to shoulder with my twin.
by OrchardLetter11 · 1mo · 4.5k warm reactions
by MapleCompass9 · 1mo · 886 warm reactions
I chose the line over my sister the weekend she needed me most. She never asked again. That was three years ago.
by SageDirge9 · 1mo · 1.5k warm reactions
The card arrived with a four-cent stamp, stained with butter and vanilla. My granddaughter watched me trace the faded words. I put my whistle on and drove the route one more time.
by MossyPorch20 · 1mo · 3k warm reactions
I got new glasses and saw individual leaves on trees for the first time. My cousin asked if I was crying. I wasn't — I was just seeing something I'd missed for years.
by LedgerRobin12 · 1mo · 1.1k warm reactions
I set a cupcake with a candle shaped like an 8 in front of my mother at the diner. It was the slow hour between lunch and dinner. I told her I was sorry for what I said fifty years ago.
by TurretField13 · 1mo · 1.2k warm reactions
I work nights, so daylight feels borrowed and strange. A new hire saw my disposable camera and asked what I was capturing. Only three shots left — just enough for the things most people miss.
by EvensongGarden12 · 1mo · 2.3k warm reactions
I called to check on the boy, misdialed, and found myself talking to a stranger who answered kindly. She asked if I was okay. I didn't know what to say.
by KnotSignet20 · 1mo · 2k warm reactions
I still read my brother's horoscope in the county paper every Thursday. The phone charger in my truck only works at one precise angle, and I hold it there while I look up at the stars he used to name.
by SaffronHutch14 · 1mo · 1.8k warm reactions
Every morning I drive twenty miles in the dark. The quiet hour is the only time I'm not haunted by the divorce or the twin who left.
by StarlingParchment10 · 1mo · 2.7k warm reactions
My interview suit doesn't fit anymore. Marta the crossing guard waves every morning. I'm the same person, but I'm not.
by VelvetHarbor15 · 1mo · 2.3k warm reactions
by EvensongTeacup12 · 1mo · 2.4k warm reactions
My younger cousin pointed at the scar on my forearm. I told her it was from a bull my grandfather raised. She asked if it hurt. I said not as much as leaving the ranch did.
by BriarJournal3 · 1mo · 2.5k warm reactions
The last day of the island grocery store. I bought bread and beans, and the cashier handed me back a dime and three pennies. I still have the pennies in my pocket.
by QuartoHymn11 · 1mo · 2.1k warm reactions