Breaking Free
| This is the 320th story of Our Life Logs |It’s funny how we can look back in life and see things from a different perspective as we get older. As a little girl, I observed the life of my mother and vowed to be different. Better. More intentional. I promised myself that I would go right where my mother had gone left. I would change … Continue reading Breaking Free
So Little I Have
| This is the 319th story of Our Life Logs |I am 36 years old. When people look at me, they think I’m way older, but that’s what it is. I did not choose the kind of life that ages the heart and wrinkles the skin, but guess what? I am happy and satisfied.I was the first born to Sardar Ali and Mukhtar Begum in Multan, … Continue reading So Little I Have
When Light Comes from Darkness
| This is the 318th story of Our Life Logs |When I first met Sven, the man that would become my husband, I was an 18-year-old trafficked sex worker. My parents had filed a missing person report, and Sven had found it when he was investigating sex trafficking rings as an Interpol liaison with the Russian Embassy. How did I end up in sex trafficking, and … Continue reading When Light Comes from Darkness
Because You Never Know
| This is the 317th story of Our Life Logs |‘“What happens when people open their hearts?”’‘“They get better.”’–Haruki Marakami, Norwegian WoodBorn into a struggling family in 1989 in Glasgow, Scotland, I lived in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood. I grew up watching over my shoulder and trying to keep the peace in our home. Though I breathed the air of misfortune, it did not … Continue reading Because You Never Know
A Shadow of Myself
| This is the 316th story of Our Life Logs |A life without its own identity is nothing but a shadow. It clings to another and hides from the sun.I was born in Dubai in 1983 to my father, a wealthy businessman, and my mother, a party animal. No doubt they loved me, but they loved all the other things more. Because my mother spent most … Continue reading A Shadow of Myself
An Ocean Apart
| This is the 315th story of Our Life Logs |I was born on December 18, 1978 in San Francisco, California, the home of a famous windy road that’s the busiest street in the city. For some reason, every person in the country wants to drive down it—for the “thrill” I guess. Seeing the excitement of the tourists made me want to travel and feel the … Continue reading An Ocean Apart
Because Roses Have Thorns
| This is the 314th story of Our Life Logs |My story began on February 23, 1983. I was born in Trenton, New Jersey, but I grew up all over the country since my mother married a military man. I spent my late teens and early 20s in the Northern Virginia area. From the outside looking in we had everything an American Dream would consist of. … Continue reading Because Roses Have Thorns
Every Peak and Valley
| This is the 313th story of Our Life Logs |I grew up seconds away from the ocean in a little, sleepy town called Seal Beach in California in the 1990s. Despite my parents’ divorce when I was six, I lived a peaceful life. That was, until my life took a nightmarish turn after I was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of seven.I was shattered … Continue reading Every Peak and Valley
I Don’t Belong Here
| This is the 312th story of Our Life Logs |The sun came out not long after I was born on a chilly morning in August of 1987 in the heart of Transylvania, Romania. In the black and white picture that they took of me the day after my birth, you can see a tiny grimace of sleepiness glued to my face—nothing ambiguous or surprising about … Continue reading I Don’t Belong Here
The Fatalist
| This is the 311th story of Our Life Logs |Every day, I walk the streets and select a place that is not far off from my walled city of Lahore, Pakistan. I put down a cloth to sit on, and my job begins. There, I use my small scale to find people’s weight for a small fee. I do not make much money, but I … Continue reading The Fatalist
When I Say I’m Fine
| This is the 310th story of Our Life Logs |I came into this world on Thanksgiving Day of 1978 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I was your typical boy; I loved to annoy my sister, my dad was my hero, and I loved being in the great outdoors, especially if I was playing football or BMXing with my friends.My mom and sister both suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, … Continue reading When I Say I’m Fine
A Freedom Worth Sharing
| This is the 309th story of Our Life Logs |I was born in York, Pennsylvania, on April 3, 1994, raised in a family where I was one of five girls. Emotions—my mother’s, specifically—ran our household. If Mom was upset, everyone’s emotional state shifted. My sisters and I walked on eggshells around her, holding our breath as we waited to be a happy family again. Unfortunately, … Continue reading A Freedom Worth Sharing
