It is funny how things change so much and yet stay completely and utterly the same. I have been with this site on and off since I was 12. I am 25 now. Yikes. This site has seen me through middle school, high school, undergrad, and now into grad school. It has been my escape through stages of depression, anxiety, good relationships, bad breakups, death, moving across the country. The works. Next week I have one of the most important exams I am going to see in my life. My PhD qualifying exam. Yeah, you heard me.

So, in honor of how long I have been on this site I would like to dedicate this to every writer out there who is just starting to find their voice and pass on a word of advice. Keep at it. Keep at whatever you do and never give up, no matter what anyone tells you. No matter how anyone makes you feel.

Enjoy!

Wing-edZenith

Disclaimer: I do not own anything! (Except this coffee I am drinking.)

Sigh

Some evenings Madeline Fenton just wanted to sit in a chair, grab a cup of tea and forget about the world. But, tomorrow the house would need to be cleaned, the groceries bought, and the weapons inventoried.

But, on evenings like this, sometimes it was just best to take a break and enjoy the crisp end-of-summer evening.

"Fudge?" A tin of the brown, overly sweet concoction was swept over her head as Jack Fenton pulled out his own chair, joining his wife on the patio.

Maddie reached out and took a piece, smiling at her husband. "It is awfully quiet, don't you think, Jack?"

Through a mouthful of fudge, Jack mumbled in agreement.

With both of the kids off to college, the Fenton house had become quiet most evenings. And, while the lab was still a mess, the kitchen needed to be scrubbed, the ecto-infused hotdogs thrown away, it was peaceful. Maybe too peaceful for the pair of on-the-go ghost hunters.

Sigh

Minutes passed in complete silence between the two. Jack, ever the more impatient, tapped his foot.

"What?" Maddie asked, watching her husband, a question obviously crossing his face.

Instead of answering, the large man stared into space. Maddie knew the look. It was the same one she had seen the man wear whenever facing an impossible question, whenever he just wasn't quite sure why an invention wasn't working. And sure enough, the next sentence out of his mouth was about just that, "Oh, I was just trying to recalibrate the specter speeder and I cannot get it right. Do you think you can look at it?"

"Of course." Maddie smiled, pausing. "But not tonight."

"Oh. Are you sure? I was hoping to work on the ghost scrambler tomorrow."

Maddie raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Alright, I can come look at it in a bit."

Jack's face lit up. "Great!" Before he rushed back inside and down to the lab.

Sigh. Maddie leaned back in her chair, taking in the evening for just a few minutes. Lightening bugs lit up across the yard. It was just so peaceful. It was never this peaceful before.

With one last sigh, Maddie stood up from her chair, stretching her back as she headed to the lab.

But, once she got down to the lab, the lights were completely off.

"Jack?" Maddie asked, searching for the light. "What are you doing down here?"

As she snapped on the light, she froze.

"Surprise!"

Jazz and Danny both stood in the center of the lab.

"What is this?" Maddie started to laugh as she went to her children, shocked to see them. "It's not my birthday or anything. What are you doing home?"

Danny and Jazz just laughed, giving her a hug. "No reason, we just wanted to come home and surprise you" Jazz laughed again, obviously thinking it was the greatest surprise ever.

Behind the two siblings, Jack grinned, happy to have surprised his wife so well. Before his face turned serious, "The kids have been planning it for weeks. They wanted to do it when you least expected them!"

Maddie joined in on the laughter as well, shepherding her flock up the stairs. "Well, come on . I think there may still be some fudge left!"

"Yay fudge!" Danny cheered before being interrupted by his father, "So, you aren't going to look at the specter speeder?"

While some things are completely different, sometimes they remain exactly the same.