by jo | Mar 31, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Memoir & Essays
He must’ve been about 6 years old. His head full of blondish brown curls. He was tall, lanky, apparently even the “slim fit” pants would fall down because of his narrow width. I was a toddler, about three years old, with baby-fat chubby cheeks, big blue eyes, and...
by jo | Mar 24, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Memoir & Essays, Stories By Jo
We sat in a small, barren classroom with approximately twelve standard table desks, in three rows of four. A green chalk board spans the length of the front wall, and a small wooden podium sits off to the side at the front of the room — it holds handouts and chalk,...
by jo | Mar 17, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Travel
I found myself wandering down the shoe section aisles at target about a week after I first had the idea for the Story Project. And there they were, the snow boots I had looked at the year before and decided I didn’t need them, as chances of me going up to the snow...
by jo | Mar 10, 2015 | Everyday Stories
There’s this thing about me (that everyone says, but I don’t believe everyone means it, or knows how to do it): I absolutely love to laugh.I love funny movies. I love funny books. And over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered the joys of stand up comedy....
by jo | Mar 3, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Memoir & Essays
Eleven years. It’s been 11 years since she died. My older sister. Julie. Two years ago on my birthday, I wrote a column about celebrating even when it’s hard, and I talked about when my sister died, and the birthdays that followed. In the piece, there was this line:...
by jo | Feb 24, 2015 | Everyday Stories, Stories By Jo
One time a story saved my life. That’s sounds dramatic, I know. It’s still true. I was 14 when my older sister died. I let grief dictate life for a year. I mean that I did not give in and grieve, rather, I shoved everything to the shelves of my mind, I...