All Comments on 'Head Above Water Pt. 05'

Made me cry.

Love your writing.

As I stated before : Remarkable in every respect!

I have to confess : During the reading I had tears in my eyes more than once.

What particularly impressed me was how well the author was able to put herself into the Dragon Lady, her head, her mind, her feelings.

Even more, if all this "only" came from her imagination ... !?!

Either way : Chapeau ! 👍

Well done. Excellent.

Amazing. Awesome. Astounding. A-one. You'll have to pull your thesaurus out for all the other adjectives. I cried more than once for sure. I'm crying as I write this. Thank you.

LMJ

One word … great!

A fine, fine story:

"That fellowship is your dream, Wes."

"No, Celine," he said softly, taking my face in his hands. "You are."

And I believe it as much as she did.

Beautiful.

Jesus Christ, what an emotional rollercoaster, can’t count how many times I cried. An absolutely beautiful piece of writing.

This is a wonderful piece of writing, one of the best I have read in a long time. The characters are great - warm, human, credible, uncertain and all the other things that make us people. The dialogue is incredible - that sharp, witty, repartee that is part of everyday social life but is so difficult to write. You nailed it from the beginning.

And, of course, the exploration and development of Celine. So poignant, such emotion, the damage, the repression, the gradual opening up. Like others below, I had tears in my eyes many times during this story.

Thank you so much, and well done.

I keep forgetting how good this is. Thank you.

Devastating. I'm sitting in Panera, wiping my eyes with unbleached brown napkins hoping nobody notices. And I'm a guy. Such a poignant backstory and a deep wound. I hope there are true stories like this where children raised in the foster system found and accepted love later in their lives. Impressive world-building. You must have done a lot of research to render it so accurately. You have a potent vocabulary and a keen ear for dialogue, but it's your emotionally intuition that makes the story so powerful. Can't wait to read more.

Damn you. I swam through a river of shit to finish the story. (OK, maybe a bit hyperbolic.) Let me explain.

Somewhere in my preadolescence, vaguely thinking of a career so much later in life, I decided that the worst possible outcome would be working in an office. I’ve already given up the plan to be a Chicago cop, like my grandfather and father. They weren’t nice man. I’ve also given up the plan to be a priest. Thankfully, that was very short-lived. But my aversion to office work somehow clung to me.

I did well in school, particularly in English, social studies, and, surprisingly, shop. When the time for college came, there was no family money to help me, so I had to work my way through undergrad. Through family connections I worked construction during summers, which allowed me tuition and fees for a commuter university. I excelled in literature, composition, and all forms of public speaking. My dream was to teach at the University level, but those jobs are rare as hen’s teeth. But as I worked through grad school, both for my masters and my terminal degree I had a reoccurring nightmare. It was me working in a cubicle in a giant office, having failed to find a university position. During that time, I continued to work construction with an emphasis on being an electrician. It paid better than slinging a hammer as a carpenter. Eventually, I did find a tenured position at a small university. But that wasn’t the greatest pain that this story caused.

My older sister never excelled at anything. She married young and took clerical jobs. After her husband left her, she managed to find a position in an electrical supply company as a sales assistant. For decades, she worked her way up to a decent salary. Then, as she turned 54, that company was absorbed, and she was found redundant. The only job she could find was doing call center phone work for a health insurance company for just over half of what she had been making. And it was nothing like what you described. It was and has been for 10 years a total hell for her, with constant threats of dismissal if she doesn’t make her numbers, bullying managers and constant sexual harassment from supervisors. Only Covid saved her, and she has been at working at home since.

Why, in god’s name did you have to go into such soporific detail on life as an insurance supervisor.? I began to dislike her simply, because she enjoyed that world that to my family has been far less than human.

But, of course, since you are one of my favorite authors, I persevered. It was rewarding in the end, but I am still haunted for the nightmare of being stuck in a cubicle and the hell that insurance company put my sister through.

I’m fairly certain that I hate you for being so amazingly talented. I love your stories more. Love/hate. Yin/yang. Life is good. Thank you.

Susan B. Antony? You do know this is a site for frivolous sexy nonsense right?

very emotive, brought me to tears, probably jealousy ,never having feeling anything close to thier love. Rarely give out 5*s but every chapter here got one. thanks for showing, describing what true love might be like. rk

"rightsized" had some very cogent inputs; Devastating/ wiping my eyes with unbleached brown napkins hoping nobody notices. And I'm a guy/ You must have done a lot of research to render it so accurately. You have a potent vocabulary and a keen ear for dialogue, but it's your emotionally intuition that makes the story so powerful.

Well we learn stuff as we go along. Next time I hit a hospital I’ll also “bullshit the paperwork”: very sensible!

Wow one of the best stories I’ve ever read thank you hope you make many may more

Crises management. Denial and sacrifice. Enlightened acceptance. Beautiful cementing of the loving relationships that were already in place. Could anything be more perfect?

Absolutely beautiful story! Loved it!

This was an absolutely amazing story. Thank you for writing and sharing it.

Listen, Lady...I'm a grumpy old vet with aches in my joints and back, scars on my scars, and a noticeable tendency to sit with my back to the wall. You aren't supposed to make me tear up, dammitall.

Extraordinary

Strangely, this gave me some insight on my orphan grand father and how it influenced my family afterward.