“I knew I was dying. I was a shell of the woman who had had a baby 7 months prior. The tumor had grown to take over half of my breast and the pain was unbearable.”
‘I have cancer.’ But how?! I’m 27 years old. I just had a baby! She couldn’t grow up without me. I wouldn’t allow it.’: New mom battles rare, aggressive form of breast cancer
‘How do you tell parents their child may have a genetic defect with a flyer for the Special Olympics? We were angry and devastated.’: Mom shares Down Syndrome acceptance journey
“He made a fist and cocked it back. I could feel his fury. I remember reaching over, just an hour after surgery, and snatching his hand as he started to strike. It hurt like heck in my abdomen, but I couldn’t let him do what I wanted to do myself… hit that physician.”
‘My child shouted, ‘Mama, don’t forget wine’ in the aisles of the grocery store. I thought it was funny.’: Widow and mom shares journey with alcoholism
“I didn’t her every memory to be of me tipsy with a drink in my hand. Feeling grief without alcohol was the hardest thing I’ve had to do, but I had to walk through it and I’m proud of that.”
‘You were a dream, a miracle, a moment I thought might never happen to me again.’: Mom shares touching open-letter to last born, only son
“You refilled my heart with a certain kind of magic. You may have been last to find your way to my heart and arms, but my goodness, how much you were worth waiting for.”
‘When your big kid asks you to do something, say yes.’: Mom of teens shares important advice
“To be invited into their world is a privilege.”
‘I stood in front of the receptionist flustered, sweaty, and desperate to turn back time… and I started to cry.’: Mom shares important realization about self-kindness
“Sometimes it takes missing a turn and crying in front of a stranger to realize you’ve got some work to do in the department of self-kindness.”
‘College essays. Refereeing kitchen cleanup so much you should wear stripes and a whistle. The adult wounds you can’t fix with bandaids and blankies.’: Tired mom of teens says ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way’
“I thought once my kids were older I’d have all sorts of time. And yet somehow I sit here, exhausted to my core. Still no time, still tired. Still wouldn’t have it any other way.”
‘There is something on the scan.’ If I was a betting woman, I’d have put everything on my strong, determined husband beating this illness.’: Widow shares grief journey after losing husband to melanoma
“This diagnosis would relentlessly fight against every treatment we tried. It all started with those six little words.”
‘We should be married,’ he said to my mom. She explained to him they had been married for 50 years.’: Caregiver to dad with Alzheimer’s shares journey, ‘I won’t regret the time I spend with him’
“I felt like I had been hit with a bag of bricks. I was sad, angry, and felt very defeated. When you care for someone with Alzheimer’s, it’s a constant grieving process. You grieve at the diagnosis, you grieve at every ‘milestone.’ I was dealing with grief even though my dad is still alive.”
‘Like typical bible college kids, we got married young, and 9 months later we were pregnant.’: Mom shares journey to 6 biological and adopted children
“Here we were in a tiny town, in the middle of nowhere with very little support, a child with a new and scary diagnosis, and a baby who never stopped screaming. Just to be funny, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive.”