“A close friend asked, ‘Can you be a bridesmaid at my wedding?’ I realized I couldn’t do it with my usual head coverings. The whole time at the wig shop, I cried. With each one I tried on, I felt like I was giving up, forced to resign, like I was surrendering to a new life with no hope.”
“When I woke up, I had lost sensation completely in my left leg, and I lost control of my bladder. The pain was excruciating.”
“‘The quality of the pictures suck.’ I wasn’t worried if my smile was too big, or if my hair was messy, or if my makeup was smeared, and it truly made all the difference.”
“As you buy the backpack, and the crayons, and do all the school preparation things, please do the most important thing.”
“We received a call from our little girl’s bio grandma. CPS had a baby girl in foster care a few hours away. ‘I was hoping you’d be able to take her.’ Siblings are meant to be together. And as much as they needed each other, we needed her too.”
“‘I get it.’ The high school years terrified me, but I decided to not play only the mom role.”
“I received a text, ‘Just wanted to say I LOVE YOU!!! And I’m SO incredibly proud of you and who you are.’ She came home when I fulfilled my promise to accomplish my dreams.”
“I cosplay in the hope that one simple picture might make a child somewhere dream a little bigger, for they are also beautiful and clever and strong indeed—exactly as they already are.”
“I remember telling my friends and family that if I wasn’t married or in a serious relationship bound for marriage by the age of 30, I was going to have a baby on my own. They laughed and told me I was crazy. Little did they know, I was completely serious.”
“After a few months my periods stopped completely, I gained 30 pounds, and was constantly bloated. If you don’t make time to take care of your health, you will be forced to take time off for your illness.”
