Egged and Enlightened I was bone-tired—the kind of tired that made you forget if you’d brushed your teeth, eaten breakfast, or fed the dog. My days blurred together ever since the twins were born. Lily and Lucas were my tiny miracles, but taking care of two newborns almost entirely on my own felt like running a marathon that never ended. Sleep? A distant memory. Halloween was around the corner, and while everyone else in the neighborhood was buzzing with excitement, I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to

The Night My Mother Returned When my mother walked out on us to chase Hollywood fame, I was seven years old and wearing pink pajamas with little hearts on them. Fifteen years later, she showed up at my door in the pouring rain, begging for help. What she told me next turned my life in a direction I never could have imagined. I still remember the night she left like it happened yesterday. I was sitting on our old, cracked leather couch, hugging my teddy bear, when I heard my

Blood and Bonds I’m Dylan—and if I had to describe my life in one word, it would be complicated. My mom, Jessica, had me when she was barely out of her teens. My dad, Greg, wasn’t much older. They were young, reckless, and convinced love could fix anything. Spoiler: it couldn’t. People used to say my parents “tried to make it work.” But the truth? Whatever held them together wasn’t strong enough to survive a pregnancy—much less me. The day I was born, my dad rushed to the hospital, heart